Aftermath
by Poe's Daughter
Summary: Onaga is dead and everyone has returned home from Outworld. So what happens to them now? Each chapter is a stand-alone story about each MK character after the events of "The Curse of the Dragon Medallion," sort of an extended epilogue. These tales probably won't make much sense unless you've first read my trilogy.
1. Raiden

**Author's Note: So much for taking a break after I finished _Curse of the Dragon Medallion_! So, welcome my friends. I had a bunch of ideas for the various characters that I wanted to do in an epilogue, but it would've taken way too long, so I decided to do this in-between story. Each chapter follows the story of one of the good guys when he/she returns home from Outworld. There will be 18 chapters (again, one for each character), and those will be divided into groups of six. So, the first six chapters will be the first year home, the next six chapters will be the second year home, and the next six chapters will be the third year home. That will allow me to kind of talk about the Netherrealm War, which will pave the way for my next story. Yes, friends, due to popular demand, I plan on writing another story set closer to the events of MKX. Woot!**

 **Anywho, I hope you enjoy these little tales, and if someone has an idea of what the hell Cyrax should be doing, please let me know! LOL**

 **I appreciate any and all reviews!**

 **First up on deck is Raiden, for all my Ray-diddy fan-girls out there ;)**

* * *

In a brilliant flash of lightning, Raiden deposited Fujin in his Wind Temple high above the Himalayas, and then appeared directly beside him. The Jinsei had invigorated him as he knew it would, and he felt much better now that his battle wounds were gone. Inwardly, he smiled as he glanced at his little brother. Fujin had grown much since last he saw him, and he threw a much meaner punch than he ever used to. But though the Thunder God's outer wounds had healed, it would still be many years before he overcame what Onaga had done to him. He couldn't recall much – the time under the Dragon King's spell felt like a bad nightmare barely remembered – but he recalled enough to feel ashamed of himself for centuries.

"If there will be nothing else," he began in his deep voice as he looked out upon the great expanse of jagged mountains, "then I will take my leave of you, Brother. I must speak to the Elder Gods about all that has transpired." He glanced at the Wind God.

Fujin hadn't seemed to have heard him, and instead had wandered to the edge of a large platform near the center of the grotto. Great shafts of light pierced the shadows. Eastward, the golden sun caressed the land; the clouds were white and high. The wind whistled and shrieked around him, blowing through his long hair which was still left undone after the battle with Onaga. He looked down – not at his feet, but at the great precipice below him – as if contemplating whether or not to jump. He could not die from the fall, Raiden knew, but it would still hurt.

"Does something trouble you, Brother?" he wanted to know, and was met with silence. "Fujin?" he prodded again.

Slowly, the Wind God swiveled his head to face him, and as he did, a gust of wind blew his hair out so that it framed his face, the long white strands whipping about like a banner. But it was his face that Raiden really took note of. Fujin was much younger than he was, and it always showed in his boyish, carefree expressions devoid of worry or despair. Though the Thunder God felt the slow passage of time march across his heart, adding new wrinkles to his soul if not his physical being, his brother maddeningly never seemed to age inside or out. But at this very moment, the Wind God looked much older with a face lined with grief, and pale blue eyes moist with tears he refused to let fall.

"Fujin," Raiden sighed, his heart suddenly full of anguish for his brother. He had never seen the younger god look so dejected, so forlorn. Angry, yes. Afraid, yes. Drunk and most definitely stupid. But never… _heartbroken_. Immediately, he walked to him, his own loose hair whipping around on the wind behind him. "What troubles you?" he asked softly as he rested a hand on his shoulder.

The Wind God shook his head and looked away, refusing to answer.

"It is about that woman you spoke of with Tomas Vrbada," he deduced.

Fujin looked at him in surprise, as if he hadn't expected his older brother to guess what the problem was so quickly. "She picked him over me," he finally said, his voice taking on an angry edge.

"So I gathered from your conversation with him," he said. "I presume this is the mother of your child?"

The Wind God nodded. "Yes," he said. "Kailyn was _mine_. And then she met him. I never expected that to happen. I thought she'd never love anyone but me." He scoffed and looked at him. "She is the Falcata Tetrach," he explained, and immediate understanding flooded Raiden.

"I see," he said, thinking of how the Falcata generally shun male companionship. "She was the blond woman who stayed close to the Earthrealm Champions after the battle." He paused before speaking again. "So you and Tomas _both_ must have been special to her for her to ignore her own rules regarding relationships. The Falcata do not fall in love easily."

"No, they don't," Fujin agreed. "She _hated_ him at first. I don't even know when that changed, exactly. But it did."

"I have long since given up trying to understand the mystery of women," he said with the faintest of smiles. "It probably does not ease your pain, Brother, but I am proud of you for the way you handled Tomas. You carried yourself with dignity and grace, and you did the right thing. If she has chosen him over you, then you cannot force her to stay with you."

"I know," he said, nodding softly before he stared at his feet again, seemingly contemplating the jump.

"Here, let us sit," he said, and he tugged on Fujin's arm to sit on the cold stone of the platform. They both sat upright with legs crossed as if meditating, and Raiden inhaled deeply, not anxious to open a very old wound, but knowing he needed to in order to alleviate his brother's suffering, to let him know that he understood all too well. "May I be honest?" he asked, looking the Wind God directly in the eye.

"Of course," he told him.

"It is probably best that Kailyn left you this way," he said, sighing. A twinge of pain stabbed through his own heart when he thought about why he believed that.

"Why is that?" he asked defensively, narrowing his eyes.

"Because you are a god, Fujin," he said.

"I don't care about that-"

"You _should_ ," he cut him off. "You are immortal." He paused as he met his brother's unhappy gaze. "She is not."

"I don't understand, Raiden," he said. "What does _that_ have to do with anything?"

"Eventually, she will grow old and die," he explained. "But you will do neither of these things. And someday, she will die in your arms, and you will watch that life as it fades away, that beautiful life that you have grown to love in ways you did not think were possible for someone like you, knowing that you cannot save her. For all of your power, for all of your desire, there is _nothing_ you can do except…watch her die. For all the creatures in all the Realms, and even the gods, cannot ignore Death's call forever. And you cannot fight it. So I say to you now, Brother, that the utter helplessness that you feel then will be far worse than her choosing the affections of another man."

"You don't know that's worse," Fujin stubbornly snarled, waving him off in annoyance.

"Oh, yes I do," Raiden argued.

"How?" he challenged.

"Because it happened to _me_."

Fujin blinked in disbelief. "What?" he said, his voice full of confusion.

"I said that it has happened to me."

"You were in love with a mortal?" he skeptically asked.

"Very much so," he replied.

The Wind God frowned. "Yeah, right," he scoffed. "You fell in love. _You_ – the god who swore to distance yourself from humanity and once told me that love was just a distraction so I should never do it – fell in love?"

"And why do you think I distanced myself from humanity?" he pointedly asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why do you think I told you love of that nature was a distraction and that you should never do it? I wanted to spare you from the pain I went through many years ago. Of course, you never listen to me, and now here we are."

"You really fell in love." It was a statement, not a question. "That is so unlike you. You actually have… _feelings_?"

Raiden smiled. "There is much you do not know about me, Brother," he said.

"I guess," Fujin conceded with a small smirk.

"Her name was Kalani," the Thunder God began, another sharp pain stabbing at his heart. He hadn't uttered her name in many years, though he thought about her often. Even under Onaga's spell, he remembered thoughts of her poking through the dark veil. He dreamily waved his hand through the breeze and summoned a vision of her, when he first met her, the edges of the picture bleeding into the sky. Glossy, raven-colored hair cascaded to her waist, pinned away from her heart-shaped face by a dendrobium blossom. Her body was lean and the color of cocoa, though her hips and breasts were full, making her an ideal hula dancer. She was young and strong, and that was how he wanted to remember her forever.

"That was her?" Fujin asked, and the Thunder God solemnly nodded. "So what happened?"

Raiden closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, carried away on a warm breeze fragrant with hibiscus and the salty smell of surf.

* * *

Raiden, shirtless in this unbearable humidity, shaded from the sun only by his coolie hat, was giving serious consideration to also shedding his hakama pants as he hiked through the rainforest atop a high Hawaiian plateau. He was hunting for fresh hibiscus blossoms to restock his tea supplies in the Sky Temple when suddenly, he heard an ear-piercing shriek cut through the air. Immediately, he had unsheathed his katana and was standing upright, looking around. The voice screamed again, wailing for help, and behind her followed the sounds of men laughing and directing each other to catch her. By the time the woman yelled for help again, Raiden had already bolted towards her and the men that chased her, soon crashing through the trees into a clearing. The woman tumbled through the thick bushes on the opposite side of the clearing, sobbing, a moment later.

"What is wrong?" he asked her in her native tongue, but she never got the chance to answer because as soon as he lifted her to her feet, a group of strange men broke through the trees and filed into a circle around the two. Their bodies were decorated in war paint and their teeth were rotten and brown. Bone jewelry pierced their septums and their ears, and some bore tribal tattoos not found in these lands. It didn't take long for Raiden to look into their souls and see that they were cannibals not native to any of the islands, but were sailors who had run aground on the west side of Kauai and were now masquerading as Hawaiians.

A large man with a shaved scalp stepped forward, presumably the leader. He carried a club and a spear in his hands. "Now we will feast on two instead of one," he said with a wicked smirk, and the other men grunted their agreement.

"You will leave this place at once," Raiden told them fearlessly as he pushed the frightened woman behind him. He lifted his katana to send a clear message to them all.

Predictably, the leader laughed and motioned to the others to attack. The men then moved to intercept their prey, and instead they discovered the true power of lightning. Arcs of electricity whipped through them, and as they did, Raiden gracefully whirled around, cutting through flesh with his katana, striking each enemy to the ground. But he fought the leader of the cannibals by hand, and the man was shocked to find that the Thunder God was ready for every cunning feint and well-timed blow, and that he easily gained the upper hand on him as they fought. Foaming at the mouth and roaring and screaming like an enraged animal, the man quickly turned to run away, but Raiden then blasted him in the chest so hard that the branched bolt of lightning pushed him through palm trees and hurled him over the edge of the plateau. Down the cannibal fell, broken and mangled by the rough, sharp spurs of lava rock, until the lifeless body lodged in the braches of a tall chia tree far below.

When the fight was over, Raiden turned and looked at the woman, who was now crouched on her knees to show him her respect. "What is your name, young one?" he asked her.

"Kalani, Lord Kane-hekili," she replied, not daring to look him in the eyes.

He smiled at that, remembering that was what her people called him: the Spirit of the Thunder. He gripped her by the elbow and lifted her to her feet. "Are you hurt, Kalani?" he asked her, but then he saw for himself. Bruises battered her arms where the men had beat her with their clubs, and she even had a long cut running from her shoulder down her back from the end of a spear. "Here, let me help you," he told her gently before he ran his hand over her wounds with his powers, healing her.

"The Lord, Kane-hekili, is kind," she remarked, timidly looking at him.

"Why were those men chasing after you?" he wanted to know.

Kalani swallowed. "I was looking for a pretty flower for my hair," she confessed. "For when I dance the hula. They caught me in the forest and carried me to their hiding place. I escaped by kicking my guard in his manhood."

Raiden nodded in approval and then reached into his satchel. "Well, here is a pretty flower for a pretty girl," he said as he withdrew one of the large hibiscus blossoms. It was the color of coral, and she looked at it with a big smile before he carefully pinned it into her hair for her.

"Thank you," she said, her amber eyes sparkling.

"Allow me to walk you back to your village," he said, taking her hand.

* * *

"How have I never heard this story?" Fujin demanded to know.

"I am certain I told you this once," Raiden replied, waving his hand dismissively.

"No, no you didn't," the Wind God argued. "I am _certain_ I would have remembered a story about my older brother killing a band of cannibals in order to save the damsel in distress." He inhaled and thoughtfully paused. "Was it love at first sight?" he asked.

The Thunder God shook his head. "No," he replied.

"Neither was mine," he said. "Kailyn was just a child when I met her. It wasn't until she was fully grown that I realized how I felt about her." Fujin had a dreamy, faraway look in his eyes, and then he shook himself from it and looked at his brother. "So how _did_ you fall in love with her?"

Raiden met his younger brother's curious gaze. "I took Kalani back to her village, and as mortals usually are, they were immensely grateful to me for saving her and them from the cannibals who had been attacking lone houses near the plateau. They dubbed me one of their patron protectors." He smirked a little at the thought. "Naturally, whenever they sought to curry my favor, their hula dancers danced to impress me."

"That had to be so awful for you," Fujin drily remarked, shaking his head.

"It was rare that I saw them dance," he said. "But the first time I did – the first time I saw _Kalani_ dance…that was when I fell in love with her."

* * *

Two men dressed in brilliantly colored headdresses simultaneously blew into conch shells, filling the flame-kissed twilight with a deep, reverberating echo that carried across the beach, heralding the beginning of the dance. Raiden watched with rapt interest as the dancers, both men and women alike, filed onto the grassy patch of sand before him and took their spots. He looked at them all, but his eyes caught sight of Kalani, who was stationed near the front of their number. She nervously smiled at him, blushing. She had brushed out her long hair until it shimmered like onyx, and pinned it back with a large hibiscus blossom like the one he'd given to her over a year prior. She wore a necklace made of shells and a small starfish, and wristlets and anklets that matched the flower in her hair. Though she was dressed nearly identical to the others, there was something about her – though Raiden couldn't say what, precisely – that made her stand out from them.

And then the drums beat out, and the priests chanted the _mele_ while the dancers began to hula. Their bodies moved as a single entity; when one dancer moved a certain way, the rest did it too. It was mesmerizing the way their bodies flowed and gyrated, almost as if they were part of the ocean itself. Kalani, especially, was graceful and good. She danced with precision, elegance, and a depth of spirit that almost created a magic of its own, one that transcended her power and beauty, full of deeply-felt emotion.

At first, she did not look at Raiden or anyone while she danced, and kept her eyes rigidly fixed upon her hands like she was supposed to do. But eventually, he caught her glancing at him out of the corner of her almond-shaped eyes, sizing him up. She quickly realized he'd seen her, but made no show to focus on her hands again. Instead, she kept her gaze locked with his, and he saw a faint, seductive smirk creep into the corners of her mouth. Immediately, something stirred inside of him, a hot, burning need that he'd never truly felt before, something that surpassed lust, though lust was definitely part of it as well.

When the dancers were finished, Raiden leaned over to Keone, the Chief, and said, "I want Kalani."

To appease him, Keone granted his wish, and Kalani willingly joined him as he carried her away to a secluded beach a few miles from her village. There, he lowered her into the sand and kissed her, studying every inch of her with his hands and mouth. She was afraid at first and understandably so, but here was not the time or the place for worry. She soon opened herself up to him and filled herself up with him, and here there was love, desire, and the dark, and if they didn't try for the first two, they would surely be left with the last. They spent the night under the stars like that, and he'd made love to her several times, not allowing her to rest until the sun peeked over the horizon at dawn.

* * *

"Don't you think that was kind of rude?" Fujin now asked, interrupting the story.

Raiden cocked his head in confusion and looked at him with a puzzled expression. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Saying to the Chief, 'I want Kalani,'" he explained. He scoffed. Then he lifted his fist into the air and joked, "Send out the virgins!"

The Thunder God shook his head and sighed, dropping his face into his palm. "I may have given you the wrong impression, Brother," he muttered. "I had been to the village many times before that, and I had befriended her. I knew that she had grown fond of me after I rescued her. She desired _me_ as well. Very much so, in fact. I looked into her heart and saw the truth."

"Still…" Fujin trailed off. "You don't just go into a village and demand the women, Raiden. It's bad manners."

"And I suppose you are now going to tell me that when mortals have agreed to give _you_ women, you have turned them down?" he pointedly asked.

His younger brother shrugged and leaned back onto his hands. "I've been with a lot of women, Brother," he proudly replied. "But _never_ anyone who had been gifted to me. I find the idea repugnant."

"You are more virtuous than I ever gave you credit for," Raiden said in his most deadpan voice, crossing his arms.

Fujin shrugged. "And I must say, Brother, that I have my doubts as to whether or not you made love to her all night long like you said." Now he wore the faintest smirk on his face, hinting at the obvious joke.

Raiden narrowed his eyes. "Just because _you_ cannot last all night, Fujin, does not mean that the same holds true for me."

For the first time since arriving in the Wind Temple, the younger god laughed and cracked a broad grin. "There it is," he said, looking much more like his normal self. "Nice one, Raiden. I didn't know you had it in you."

"May I finish my story?" the other impatiently asked, though he smiled as well.

"Please," he said, gesturing broadly with his hand.

"I returned back to her often," he said. "As often as I could, given my duties as Protector of Earthrealm. The villagers said she was my wife, and I suppose that is true in nearly every sense of the word, save for the actual ceremony. They made Kalani a noblewoman, and did their best to make sure she was happy so that _I_ would be happy with _them_."

"Did you have children with her?" Fujin asked.

Raiden shook his head no. "I do not think she could have children," he said. "But I do not think she wanted them anyway. She was the oldest child in a family of twelve children. She had already helped raise her brothers and sisters, and must have decided she had already been like a mother."

"Well, thank goodness for _that_ much," his brother teased. "I was going to be upset if I was related to half of Hawaii and didn't know it."

"I returned to her as much as I could," the Thunder God continued, ignoring Fujin's comment, "but when my Champions lost the Mortal Kombat tournament again, depleting my number of warriors, and invasion by Shao Kahn seemed inevitable, my visits grew farther and farther apart." He sighed, feeling a large ball of needles creep into his throat. "It just never occurred to me how fleeting a mortal life is, Fujin," he said. "It seems as if I blink my eyes and decades pass."

"I've noticed that myself," the Wind God agreed.

"I began to notice that, when I would return to my beloved Kalani, she was growing older," he told him. "To me, it would feel like I had only just left her, but in truth, years had passed. And she would have a little bit more gray hair, or a couple new wrinkles that I had never seen before. It did not change how I felt about her, mind you. In my heart, she was still that same young woman I had fallen in love with all those years ago. But in my head, I began to understand what was coming for her, and I did not know how to stop it. I was determined to try, though."

"You tried to stop her from getting old?" Fujin asked in disbelief.

He nodded. "I went to the Elder Gods and beseeched them to make her immortal like me so that I could keep her forever, so that I did not have to watch her grow old and die." He winced at the thought, remembering how indifferent they all had looked at him as he pleaded his case. "Toci and Gaia scarcely cared what I had to say," he said. "They all but told me it was my own fault for my dilemma. After all, it was the risk any god takes when falling in love with a mortal."

"And Himavat?"

"Himavat was the only one of them who sincerely wanted to help," he replied. "But how? From the moment they are born, all mortals are destined to die. He could delay Kalani's death, but he would only be delaying the inevitable."

"So what did you do?"

"I returned to her, as he had advised, and I spent as much time with her as I possibly could. Sadly, that was not much."

* * *

"Where is Kalani?" Raiden asked the elderly Chief, Keone, when he returned to the village after his unproductive discussion with the Elder Gods. He had searched for her in her house, but had found her house gone, reclaimed by the thick jungle. So now, he had found the old man resting inside of his hut. "What happened to her house?"

"It collapsed last winter, Lord Kane-hekili," the hobbled man replied, rocking in a chair his children had made for him, basking in the growing dusk. "A typhoon came ashore and destroyed much of the village."

"And Kalani?" the Thunder God demanded to know, suddenly worried for her, panicking at the thought of her being dead.

"She was unhurt, Lord," he reported. "She stayed in my house with my family until we could rebuild her home on the plateau."

"Why on the plateau?" he wondered. "Why so far from the village?"

"She wished it, Lord. She said she wanted to live where the island overlooks the sea, close to your home in the sky, in the spot where you saved her many years ago."

Raiden bowed to Keone, and then took his leave of him, teleporting on a bolt of lightning to the plateau and the spot he spoke of. There, he found her hut sitting quietly in the clearing, the forest growing tall around it like protective sentries. Hibiscus in shades of pink and coral bloomed beautifully around it, filling the air with sweet, delicate fragrance that mingled with the ozone of a coming storm. But there was no sign of Kalani.

"Kalani?" he called. "Where are you?"

He thought he heard coughing in response. The Thunder God frowned and approached the house, entering. Inside, he found her lying on a cot, huddled beneath her blankets, curled almost into the fetal position, wheezing and gasping. A small fire burned in the pit in the corner, and cast eerie shadows throughout the dimly lit hut. It provided enough light for him to see that she had aged even more since last he saw her. Her hair, which had been braided, was now coarse and white, and liver spots mottled her face and trembling hands.

"Oh, Kalani," he sighed, kneeling by her side. He rested a hand tenderly on her hair, waking her.

"Kane-hekili," she rasped in surprise, her voice old and bent. "My handsome, strong Lord."

"Hello, Beloved," he told her, smiling even as pain ripped through his heart like a forked branch of lightning. "I have come to see you."

Tears welled up in her eyes and she weakly shook her head. "No," she whimpered. "Leave me. I do not wish you to see me like this." She tried to pull her blanket over her head, but he stopped her.

"I am not leaving you," he whispered, resting his forehead against hers. "Never again."

And then he climbed onto the cot with her, balancing awkwardly on the edge against the wall so that she might be more comfortable, and wrapped his arms around her frail body. Her soul was as strong as ever, he could tell, but her body was rapidly weakening. Kalani fell asleep in his arms, and he watched through the window as a storm approached the island, his tears trickling down his face, dampening her matted hair. Night fell early as the black thunderheads moved in, and brilliant flashes of blue lit up the sky as arcs of lightning bounced from cloud to cloud. Deafening peals of thunder shook the ground as if matching the pounding in his head, and they startled her awake.

"There is a storm moving in," she said, threading her gnarled fingers through his.

Raiden nodded, holding her closer. "Yes," he agreed.

"I remember…many years ago," she began. "I was afraid of thunder and lightning."

"Are you still afraid, Beloved?" he asked her.

She shook her head slightly. "No," she told him, squeezing his hand. "Now, I cannot truly rest unless there is a storm coming."

"Then rest," he told her, and she fell silent. "I am here with you, Beloved."

The hut was quiet for a while longer, and then her voice, so small and fragile, asked, "I cannot see, Lord Kane-hekili. What does Kauai look like today?"

Raiden winced his eyes shut, sensing now her life leaving her body. It felt like sand slipping through his fingers, claimed by the tide and pulled out to the dark, unyielding sea. "It's late summer and warm," he told her, "but the days are going to get shorter and cooler very soon. But the hibiscus and plumeria are in full bloom. They will be perfect for your hair…" he trailed off as her body went limp and her soul left it in a ragged, pitiful exhalation. "…for when you dance the hula for me," he finished, his voice cracking.

"Kalani?" he whispered a moment later as tears streamed from his eyes. He didn't want to believe what had just happened. He didn't want to believe she was gone. He _refused_ to believe it. "Beloved?"

There was no answer.

Raiden's chest shuddered and heaved, and a strangled sob escaped him. Immediately, he ran his hand over her wrinkled skin with his powers pulsating into her body, stubbornly pulling her back from Death's pitiless clutches. He imagined he caught her hand as she darted away to the Hereafter, but the tighter he held her, the easier she slipped free of his fingers. And then she was gone…forever.

The Thunder God snuggled against her, weeping into the depression between her shoulder blades, think of her dancing for him all those years ago when she was young and vibrant and more a creature of spirit than even he was. Each tear that fell from his eyes brought a new bolt of lightning hurtling towards the earth, each miserable sob summoning claps of thunder. Raiden held his Kalani tightly in his arms as the storm passed through, uprooting ancient trees and kicking up ocean waves that threatened to swallow the village whole.

When dawn came at last, Raiden neatly arranged Kalani's body on the cot, and then he unfastened her braid, combing it out until it draped her body in a silvery, rippling waterfall. When that was done, he went outside to collect as many hibiscus blossoms as he could find, in as many colors as he could imagine. He carried them into her hut and set about arranging them around her body and throughout her home. He saved the last one for her – a large bloom the color of coral – and he carefully pinned it into her hair behind her ear.

"A pretty flower for a pretty girl," he whispered, his voice breaking, before he kissed her one last time. Her lips had gone cold, and that, more than anything, affirmed her absence.

He rested his head on her stomach and took in the sweet smell of the flowers, wishing she would wake up to comfort him, to relieve this unyielding ache slowly gnawing at his heart. He was a god! What good were all of his powers when he could do nothing to save her?

Finally – Raiden wasn't quite sure how much time had passed – he pulled himself away from her and quietly walked outside, his eyes now involuntarily glowing white with ethereal power. Several paces from the hut, he turned and looked back, blinking back tears, some part of him waiting for her to run after him and tell him the Elder Gods had granted his wish after all. But nothing happened, and he trembled, his body shuddering as he silently wept.

So he lifted his hand to the sky and summoned a thick bolt of lightning, more than enough to envelop the hut with blinding white heat. Wild arcs of electricity squealed as they exploded outward in a shower of sparks, which set everything in the vicinity on fire in an instant. Raiden watched the roiling flames creep up the hibiscus trees, the pretty blossoms curling and melting as they blackened, the forked orange tongues licking the hut itself and setting it ablaze. He stood there as it burned, and didn't move, even when the villagers came to see.

At last, though, there was nothing left of her or her hut, and Raiden swallowed the tight ball of needles in his throat before he said, "Farewell, Kalani. I will never love another."

* * *

Fujin stared at Raiden, his face betraying sympathy. "I don't know what to say," he finally said.

The Thunder God looked at his hands, which were folded neatly on his crossed legs. "There is nothing to say," he told him. "It is not something I ever speak of. I have seen many horrible things throughout the ages, and I have felt despair and sorrow grasp me in their clutches and refuse to let go. But losing Kalani was the most horrible thing I have ever endured. I have not returned to Hawaii since then, not once."

"I'm sorry you went through that," the Wind God said after a long pause. "I can't imagine…You're right, Brother. That's far worse than what I am going through."

"It is not a competition, Fujin," he firmly said. "But if it was, I actually think you have unintentionally dealt yourself the worse hand."

The younger god lifted his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I lost the only woman I ever loved, and the pain still torments me even now." He looked at his brother knowingly. "But someday, _you_ will discover the pain of losing a child."

Sudden realization filled Fujin then, and panic joined it. "Raiden, what do I do?" he demanded to know as he pulled himself onto his knees. "There has to be something I can do."

The older of the two shook his head. "There is nothing you _can_ do," he gently told him.

"Morgan…" he trailed off, fresh tears filling his eyes. "This is perhaps the cruelest joke I've ever heard. We gods have all the time in the universe, and yet it still isn't enough."

"It is a cruel joke, indeed," he agreed, rising to his feet. "But now, I really must take my leave of you. Take from my story what you will. But know there are worse fates than unrequited love."

"Raiden," Fujin called a moment later, prompting the Thunder God to turn around. He looked expectantly at his younger brother. "You give terrible pep talks." He inhaled deeply. "But…thank you. For sharing that with me."

The older of the two nodded. "Be well, Brother," he said. "Until I see you again."

* * *

Raiden originally intended to meet with the Elder Gods, but once he left the Wind Temple, he unexpectedly found himself in Kauai for the first time in several centuries, as if the bolt of lightning that carried him had a mind of its own. Perhaps it was because that, deep down, that was the direction his heart pulled him. The landscape was relatively the same, he noticed when he appeared on the plateau where he met Kalani years ago, but the wild, untamed forest had violently been pushed back by civilization. Hotels and resorts lined the shoreline in places, and winding asphalt roads cut swaths through the wilderness. But the plateau had been mostly untouched save for a few observatories installed at the top.

The clearing where the Thunder God had first met Kalani was gone now, though, and the thought made him sad. The rainforest had reclaimed that land long ago, and now, only thick groves of tropical trees occupied that space. No scar remained there to hint at what once was. But there were hundreds of hibiscus blossoms in full bloom, and as he walked through them, he felt as if they turned to look at him.

Raiden made his way to the spot where he knew his Beloved's house once stood, that place burned forever into his memory. To his pleasure, a healthy, strong hibiscus tree grew from the ground, climbing towards the sky, its flowers large and the color of coral. Fragrance perfumed the air, and he inhaled deeply, savoring the smell. He watched the woody, slender branches sway in the breeze, the delicate arms seemingly dancing to impress him.

He dropped to his knees and dabbed away the tears that betrayed him. "Hello, Beloved," he spoke out loud, closing his eyes. "I have been gone far too long. But I have returned now, and I hope you are well."

The Thunder God then began to speak as if she were there, listening to him, and telling her everything that had happened since last he saw her. Raiden spoke well into the night, his voice carrying through the trees, lifted on the wind, and drowned out by the sound of beating drums and distant memories. Somewhere, far below, to appease the gods, the women began to dance the hula.


	2. Kenshi

**Author's Note: I want to say thanks and give a shout-out to my peep, iceangelmkx, who picked Kenshi's song for me. :) It is "When I'm With You" by Sheriff. That's an 80's power ballad, kids LOL**

 **DarkAssassin15: I'm so glad they did!**

 **Dr. MKDemigodZ-Warrior: Well, nobody really sees Raiden like that, so I wanted to give people a reason why. As for the others, you'll see ;)**

 **Obelisk of Light: I'm so glad that you love the hell out of this chapter! And you are too kind. As you know, I get nervous doing canon/OC pairings, so when I do them, I work _really_ hard to get them right. And I appreciate your help writing that chapter, from doing research to gently pointing me in the right direction with the theme of aging. :D**

 **ROCuevas: Thanks, my friend! I appreciate that!**

 **en-lumine: Part of me is going awww, and then the other part of me is going "YES!" LOL I find I do my best writing of emotional scenes when I stop deliberately _trying_ to make them full of feels. Kalani's actions and dialogue at the end was inspired by my grandma, who couldn't sleep without the TV in her room on every night after my grandpa had died. They had been married _fifty_ years!**

 **Anyway, thanks to everyone who has faved/followed me. I appreciate your continued support so much :D Now, onto Kenshi's tale...**

* * *

Kenshi found himself in Thailand, in Lampang, drawn towards the young woman who was beautiful in both body and soul, the only woman who'd ever _truly_ captured his heart. Before now, Suchin had played her little game of hard to get – he had seen into her thoughts and knew that she thought he was simply after a cheap, one-night stand – but tonight, he wasn't going to take no for an answer. He was determined to prove his sincerity; she had been hurt in the past, he knew from their conversations lasting until dawn, but then again, so had he. Any attempt to win her love, therefore, had to be big, had to be meaningful. It couldn't be the usual flirting as she tended the bar. No, it had to make him vulnerable. And, it had to be memorable.

So he had first traded his red blindfold for a pair of nondescript sunglasses, and then he bribed the piano player to take the night off. He even convinced the aging man to throw in the required tuxedo since they wore roughly the same size. The thought of a tux made Kenshi uncomfortable. He'd worn them before, and they were always a miserable experience. Itchy, stiff, they were truly a throwback from the Spanish Inquisition. But he would do it, not only because _Soiree_ was an exceptionally fancy black-tie only restaurant serving traditional French fare, but because she deserved only the very best from him. As he tied the bowtie – just five minutes until stage time – he thought about her and ached with longing.

His friend, Kuai Liang, had taught him that if you love someone, you must treasure them as if you'd never get the chance again. Kenshi hadn't understood what the Cryomancer meant – not exactly – until he saw the demon sorcerer, Shang Tsung, steal _her_ face and speak vile lies about all the twisted things he'd done to her. And in that moment, he realized that Suchin meant more to him than he'd ever known, that she was more than just a toy in a faraway French restaurant to play with whenever he grew bored with his work in Thailand, that she was even more than just his friend. She was not someone he'd casually sleep with when life on the road became lonesome and weary, and he needed human contact simply for the sake of preserving his sanity. Kenshi needed Suchin because he needed her love, he needed her to fill up all the empty spaces inside of him and make him whole again.

He had been lucky that Shang Tsung only lied to him to torment him. He'd been lucky that she had been unharmed. He would have protected her however he could, and in fact, that's really how he got to know the true Suchin, the one lurking below the surface of the waitress working for tips, that cold night in January. Initially, she'd insisted she was fine walking home by herself when he'd offered, adamant that she'd never encountered a mugger but if she did she had pepper spray in her purse, but he just couldn't get enough of her. A cloud of jasmine hung around her, and fire burst through her soul. And she had this ornery smirk that he longed to see with his real eyes, and not just the third eye that allowed him to see glimpses of the world around him.

He'd practically begged her to let him escort her. In his mind's eye, he sensed her doubt. How could a blind man protect her? But, she liked him well enough, and conceded. Even as the gentle flurries of snow fell onto their shoulders, they walked around Bangkok arm in arm, talking, taking the scenic route to her apartment where they spent the rest of the night just talking some more. Kenshi had never done that before, had never opened up so candidly about himself, but she shared much of her own story as well, and he decided that all of this sharing was good.

And then, just like that, it was time to go onstage. Sento had fed him enough energy earlier to allow him to see his way to the grand piano without fumbling about like an idiot, though it was difficult regardless. His heart pounded in his chest, but it wasn't from all the eyes watching him. What if his plan failed to impress Suchin? Or worse, what if she was already taken? Immediately, he recognized a flaw in his plan; he should've snooped around before he pulled this stunt to be sure she was still unspoken for. He almost turned and fled the restaurant upon realizing his error. But then, he heard a sweet voice like an angel call out to him in surprise.

"Kenshi?" Suchin asked, and he heard her step towards the piano and stand only a few feet away on the polished dance floor. "What are you doing here?" she demanded to know in English. She had learned it by watching imported American movies, her favorite, he knew, was the original _The Karate Kid_. He looked at her, admiring her petite frame clothed in a plain black skirt and button-up white blouse, wishing he could see it like he could have long ago, once upon a time before Shang Tsung cursed him. "I haven't seen you in a year."

He inhaled deeply to steady his now-trembling hands. So much for escaping… "It's been too long, I know, Suchin," he spoke into the microphone, using her native Thai, forgoing the English that she'd just used. He _wanted_ people to understand him. Though, how his voice came out so calm and clear was beyond him. It belied the panic rapidly setting in on his heart as he _realized_ what he meant to do. "I was on a mission that went a lot longer than I expected."

"You're not Kamnam," a new voice growled in a broken Thai dialect laced with a thick French accent. Kenshi presumed it was the manager. "What have you done with him?"

"I told him to take the night off," Kenshi said with a smirk as he looked in Suchin's direction. He felt a little bit more confident now. Something about confrontation had always given him the added push of courage he needed to do what had to be done. He inwardly thanked the very angry manager for his help. "On my mission, Suchin, I realized something very important, and I had to come tell you immediately."

"Kenshi, you're going to get me fired-"

"I love you," he blurted out. Immediately, the busy dining room, which had gone quiet to hear this exchange, suddenly gasped as one. Some of the diners began to clap at his seemingly fearless declaration.

"You don't even know me," she protested.

"Yes, I do," he stubbornly argued. "And you know me. Better than anyone in years. You're my moon and my stars." Now Kenshi grinned when he reached out with his mind and felt hers. It was so full of confusion, but so touched at the same time.

"I…" she breathed, trying to find her words as she slapped her hand to her heart to steady the wild flapping within. "I think you should leave, and I will talk to you about this _after_ I am finished with work." Some of the patrons murmured their agreement, but a few more groaned in disappointment.

"Well, I am _not_ leaving until you agree to give me a chance, Suchin," he replied, digging his heels in further. "And to prove to you how serious I am, I _will_ sing to you."

"Kenshi, no!" she exclaimed as he began to play a dulcet melody that he'd always found pleasing to his ear. "This is hardly the place-"

 _I never needed love like I need you_ , he sang, now in English, as he sensed her blush in mortification. She didn't like all the attention from him, he could tell. Deep down, she didn't believe she deserved it. _Oh, Suchin_ , he thought, _how wrong you are_.

 _And I never lived for nobody, but I live for you.  
_ _Oooh, babe, lost in love is what I feel when I'm with you._

"I'm calling the police," the manager threatened, and the audience immediately booed him. That didn't deter him, and he wound his way from the dining room. _Well_ , Kenshi thought as the next few lines spilled from his mouth and into the mic, _I probably have a few good minutes before the authorities arrive._

"Kenshi, please, I don't want you to get in trouble," Suchin pleaded, folding her hands together as if in prayer.

But he continued singing, his voice fearless and determined:

 _Maybe it's the way you touch me with the warmth of the sun,  
_ _Maybe it's the way you smile / I come all undone  
_ _Oooh, babe, lost in love is what I feel when I'm with you.  
_ _Baby, oh I get chills when I'm with you.  
_ _Baby, my world stands still when I'm with you.  
_ _When I'm with you._

 _I never cared for nobody like I care for you,  
_ _And I never wanted to share the things I want to share with you.  
_ _Oooh, babe, lost in love is what I feel when I'm with you._

If there was ever a time Kenshi sang his very heart out, putting every ounce of effort into getting each pitch absolutely perfect, and hitting every last note, it was this time. His fingers skillfully flew over the keyboard, the melody sweet and powerful and full of every ounce of care he could muster. It was all for Suchin, his beautiful, beloved Suchin, who had long since stopped protesting and trying to protect him from the coming police, and listened in awestruck earnest as he sang his cheesy song in all its glory just for her. She was melting. He could _feel_ it. He sensed it as he reached out to her and touched her mind ever so gently with his powers.

And then he was done with the song, and the entire restaurant went wild with applause. Before he met Suchin, the noise would have pleased him. If he hadn't gone down the road he did, if he hadn't become a warrior and a consultant for S.F., he knew he would've been a professional musician. He'd often dreamed of what it was like to be a rock star, to be hailed by thousands of screaming, adoring fans. And now that he had a taste of that life, he didn't even notice it.

His fierce attention was on her, and on her reaction. But she didn't say anything, and he knew she was struggling to find the words. So, he'd help her out.

" _Now_ will you give me a chance?" he asked.

"I…I…" she stammered.

"Don't make me play 'The Glory of Love' from _The Karate Kid_ because I _will_ go there," he warned her with a smirk. She'd loved the movie but made fun of the cheesy power ballad by Peter Cetera.

"Kenshi," she began, her eyes looking down. He sensed the overwhelming desire that she had to say yes to him, that she _did_ want to run off with him like in some sort of fairytale romance, but he also felt her fear of her family, and what they would say, especially her mother. It drowned out all other noise and enveloped her, shading her mind with uncertainty and self-doubt.

"Please, Suchin," he said. "I know what's in your heart, and you _want_ to be with me. Please, give me just _one_ chance." She looked at him, but said nothing as she stood in place, fighting her inner demons to find her voice. So Kenshi slowly swiveled his head back and forth at the audience and said, "What do you guys think?" he asked. "You have nothing to lose by giving her your honest opinion. So should she give me a chance?" Naturally, the diners applauded their yes.

Pleased, Kenshi slid off the piano bench and carefully stepped towards her, feeling his way forward with his feet. To earn those all-important sympathy points, he stretched his hand out in front of him, flailing his arm, even though he could see glimpses of the stairs through his third eye. Suchin took the bait. Not wanting him to fall off the stage, she grabbed his arm as he stepped down the stairs onto the main dining room floor. The scent of jasmine clouded around him and made his head pleasantly swim.

As soon as he reached the bottom, he whirled her around and wrapped his arms around her. She looked up in bewilderment at him, and now that their bodies touched he could feel the pounding of her heart inside her veins, but she did not resist. Instead, he heard her breath come in ragged, uncertain pants, indicating her need, her _desire_. Gently, tenderly, his fingers buried themselves in her silky hair, which was styled into half a bun that allowed her bottom layers to hang loosely, and he pulled her mouth to his, kissing her as one of his hands slid down her back to pull her closer.

When he finally pulled away, he whispered, "Suchin, I want you more than anything in the world. But if you can look me in the eye…so to speak…and tell me without a shadow of a doubt that you don't want me, then I'll go and I'll never bother you again. But please don't make me go." With that, he rested his forehead on hers.

"Don't go," she whispered back, her body trembling. She was still afraid, yes, but he sensed the fiery courage he'd come to know and love well up inside her and fight it back.

At her quiet plea, he laughed and then kissed her again, this one more passionate and tender than the first. Her soft lips melted and parted beneath his own, and she opened herself up to him, cupping her hands around his cheeks as the diners all applauded. When he pulled back this time, she threw her arms completely around his neck and hugged him, smiling.

"That's the man!" the manager's voice suddenly rang out. Kenshi and Suchin both looked up and saw a small handful of Thai police approach. They would be easy to dispatch, he knew, but not here. Not in front of Suchin and all these people. He'd wait until he was outside to knock them out with his powers.

"I've got to go!" he said to her quickly, smirking. "You still live at the same place?"  
"Yes," she said, nodding her head, surprise and amusement and anxiousness rippling through her in equal parts.

"Good," he said as he took off running, peeling off the monkey suit with each step. "I'll see you there later! After you get off work."

* * *

A few weeks later, Kenshi came to Suchin as she stood by her bed because she was frightened. He came to her not as her friend of the last few years, but as her lover. She trembled, her body naked in front of him for the first time, and although he held her the darkness in her apartment was so deep with the curtains closed that even in his mind's eye he could barely see her; for all he knew, she was a ghost. Her delicate jasmine scent wafted from her body like the promise of a spirit, giving him his only real clue that she was there.

"Kenshi, I don't think I can do this," she said, though it was not fear of him that spurred her words, but insecurity and doubt. "I'm just a waitress, not anyone important like you-"

"Yes, you can," he confidently said, and pulled her down to the bed. The surface beneath them was firm and warm. "And yes, you are."

He probed her mind to see her thoughts, knowing he shouldn't, but too curious to look away. Suchin reached for him in the darkness, wanting to trace every inch of his body with her fingers, but she hesitated when her mother's face intervened, harsh and foreboding. _Don't let a man touch you before you're married_ , the woman snarled. And, oh, God help her if she could see her now.

But then Suchin pushed her away and closed her arms around Kenshi's neck, her smooth cheek against his smooth cheek, and as he kissed her and tentatively stroked her small breasts, she sighed and thought _this is Kenshi, sweet, handsome Kenshi_. And with that, he saw that she remembered a day in July when she was working the bar at _Soiree_ , but it was hours before they opened for dinner, and he snuck in as she polished glasses and kept her company, and he'd made her laugh so hard from doing various impressions of cheesy martial arts movies that she nearly broke more than one dish as she'd worked. It had been fun.

She thought of birds, particularly starlings and sparrows flying high in the sky, and her hands found his belt and loosened it. When Kenshi was naked like her, and his body pressed up against hers, he sensed her curiosity compel her to touch him lightly. He groaned against her neck as her fingers brushed against him, and the blow of his breath caused her bare body to ripple with goosebumps. And then, there was sudden fear blossoming through her mind that he was too big for her, that there was no way all of _that_ would fit inside of her.

In the darkness, the swordsman smiled at her thoughts, and then he pushed his way forward probably just a bit too fast. She hissed, her teeth biting at her lower lip as he sensed mild pain inside of her, but he saw her think of the birds again, dancing and darting through the sky, until the burning left her. Soon it did go, and she reached up to touch his lips with her finger, and he moaned, not entirely sure he could stand the pleasurefor very long.

"Teach me how to fly, Kenshi," she said with a calmness that he knew she didn't feel. Birds danced through the sky of her mind.

"Always," he whispered, kissing her damp temple.

The heat inside of them both rose, and the power of that moment suddenly shifted back to him, but she gave it gladly and went with it as he led her. They rocked together, and Kenshi felt a delicious spiraling sweetness which he sensed made her begin to turn her head helplessly from side to side beneath him.

"Oh, Suchin," he mumbled, feeling the sweat drops bead on his face, feeling their connection, something firmly in place, something like infinity. "I love you so much."

Biting her bottom lip could not stop the cry that escaped her then, and he felt her pleasure rising, threatening to overwhelm her, very much like his own. Glorious images of flight filled her head, and so she flew up and up, unknowingly taking him with her, and now the power was not with either her or him but somewhere between them, and he cried out, his muscular arms trembling, and she arched up and into him so that he could feel her spasm around him.

But Kenshi was not finished. He slowed down his pace, and Suchin, trembling and gasping, curled her delicate hands around his cheeks. This time, there was passion, though not the same kind as before. He sensed her contemplate his kindness, tenderness, the way he seemed just short of calm. He smiled at that; if only she knew just how anxious he felt right now, she'd laugh. He was eager, but this time it was tempered by patience, and perhaps the realization of how huge this moment was. And at the end, he was surprised by her sudden swell of pleasure to match his own, and he almost laughed when he sensed her say _Oh! It's happening again! Oh, God, please don't let this stop._

And then Kenshi huffed as his fingers curled around the sheets, pulling them loose at the corner, threatening to rip them apart as she cried out his name and then buried her head against his shoulder, moaning, and they reached that moment together – he _knew_ they did – because he felt it in her mind. But his thoughts were swept away by the utter sweetness of it, and he barely heard himself whispering, "I love you, Suchin, I love you, I'll always love you," over and over as everything inside of him exploded in blinding white light.

Then it was over, and he hugged her to him, and for a long time they stayed that way, his smooth cheek against hers. But finally, he withdrew from her silently, and then pulled the comforter onto them both, holding her in the darkness. For the first time in years, he felt whole again.


	3. Smoke

**Author's Note: Yup, I have another chapter for ya'll. To be fair, I wrote this one (and Kenshi's) before I did Raiden's LOL**

 **Dr. MKDemigodZ-Warrior: I agree! And thanks :)**

 **ROCuevas: Thanks! You're always so nice!**

 **Jason: Sorry, man, I can't do that. Onaga killed Reptile in order to use his body to be reborn, and now that Onaga is dead, so too is your favorite Zaterran. Baraka is the same way too since he died by Erron's hands. ~shrugs~ I wish I could help, but there's really not much I can do without violating my own continuity.**

 **en-lumine: Your review made me laugh my head off. I want to hug them too. Hugs, hugs all around XD And I really am glad you like it. Your version of Kenshi and Suchin make me feel inadequate as a writer!**

 **Obelisk of Light: Well, the way I started with Kenshi (which didn't anticipate his character in MKX) demanded oodles of cheese. But I tried to make it good cheese, not lame cheese sauce. To answer your question, Smoke is up next!**

 **Firebending Master: I suppose it does! But I have a feeling you already knew that ;) Thanks for both of your reviews.**

 **Lin Kuei Unit LK-4D4: Yeah, I kind of got lazy with Sektor, my apologies. After _Frostbitten_ , my idea was that he kind of took off to regroup and reform the Tekunin. So it's definitely possible he could reappear, though it won't be in _this_ set of stories. These are reserved for the good guys LOL**

 **That nice peanut butt: First of all, I _love_ your pen name LOL Second of all, thank you! I'm glad I didn't have to make you wait for long. **

**iceangelmkx: While you're making grilled cheese, I'll gladly take one too LOL I was hoping you'd approve of him wooing her, and I think the song you picked worked beautifully. With the second part, that kind of unexpectedly came about. I wasn't originally _intending_ to do that, but then I got this idea and well...Anyway, I hope whatever I did helps you with your stuff :) **

**So, up next we have Smoke. As I was imagining this chapter, it came to me like a movie montage, so I tried to write it that way. Therefore, it's in non-linear order. I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Today was the day. Tomas' first full day alone with Alex without Anya showing him how to be a father. They had been home from Outworld for precisely a month, and things had been going well. Bonding with Alex had proven easier than he thought, and the boy had latched onto him fairly quickly. So now, after everyone had finished with breakfast and began their normal day, the cyber-ninja cracked his knuckles in determination. He was thoroughly exhausted – Alex had not slept through the night at _all_ since Tomas had returned to him – but his sleepiness did not deter him. He had grown up in the Lin Kuei Temple under Grandmaster Oniro, had miraculously overcome automation, and had somehow survived the war with Onaga. This? This was child's play.

Even still, Anya looked at Tomas nervously as she held Alex in her arms and walked around the floor of his sleeping quarters. He understood her protectiveness, he supposed. She _had_ been like his mother since he was two months old, had bathed him, fed him, clothed him, rocked him, and _loved_ him in all that time. But Tomas was Alex's true parent, and he could be trusted to care for his own child.

"Are you _sure_ you can handle this by yourself?" she asked him for the umpteenth time since she and Kuai Liang had shown up in his room only fifteen minutes prior, just as the day was starting. "Because really, I can change my doctor's appointment if you need me to."

" _No_ ," the Grandmaster told her sternly. "You're not changing your appointment. Tomas will be fine."

Tomas sighed and smiled. "Relax, _můj sladký anděl_ ," he told her. "You've been a good teacher. But now, it's time for me to do this on my own."

"Yeah, Anya," her husband said, patting her shoulder. The Cryomancer flashed a sympathetic smile at Tomas and faintly nodded his head, indicating that he'd get her out of there. "It's time to let go. You've been a good caretaker, but it's time to let Alex's _father_ handle things from here."

"A caretaker?" she asked, an odd mix of anger and grief crossing her face. She looked up at her husband with a wounded expression. "Is that all I've been to him? To all these kids?"

"Honey, it's time to let go," Kuai Liang gently told her as he lifted Alex, who was happily babbling away, from her arms. Then, he passed the infant to Tomas, who leaned him against his shoulder and started patting his back. The cyber-ninja felt sorry for Anya, though. At that very moment, she looked as if she might start to cry. She'd been increasingly hormonal with each passing day of her pregnancy, and Tomas had witnessed her burst into hysterical tears over less than this. He frowned, worried about her.

"Oh, _miláček_ ," he told her in his most soothing, appreciative tone of voice to calm her down. "You've been so much more than just a caretaker to Alex. You've been like his mother. I can't tell you enough how thankful I am to you for you watching over him. But you're going to be late to your appointment." He winked at her. "You've got to find out how _your_ baby is doing."

Anya wiped her eyes with the back of her hands and solemnly nodded. Then she leaned over and planted a kiss on Alex's head. "Be good for your daddy," she told him softly. And with that, Kuai Liang gripped her shoulder and led her out. As expected, she'd started to cry. The cyber-ninja tried not to take it personally. She was just a crazy pregnant lady right now who was bursting at the seams with uncontrollable hormones. He felt sorry for her husband though; Kuai Liang had a certifiable nutcase on his hands right now.

Tomas smiled when they closed his bedroom door. Then he lifted Alex up to look directly in those almond-shaped eyes indicative of his birth mother's Tibetan heritage. In fact, most of his features were his mother's, from his Asian face to his jet black hair to his naturally tan skin. But those _eyes_ …Brilliant and gray like molten silver, framed by long, black lashes, _they_ were Tomas' without a doubt.

"You're going to be good for _t_ _á_ _ta_ , aren't you?" he asked with a large grin. The boy blew a raspberry in response. "Oh, a wise guy, eh?" he teased. "Come on, I think it's time for a little morning nap for the both of us!"

He made his way into his quarters' sitting area where Kuai Liang had ordered Shen to set up a rocking chair when he was preparing Tomas' room. Just this area alone was much larger than that glorified broom closet he'd shared with Kuai Liang and Bi-han growing up. And it was nicely furnished as well, with matching couches colored dark blue, decorative pillows leaned against the cushions, and even a pristine glass coffee table to rest his feet on.

He sank onto the cushiony rocking chair, though, and wrapped a blanket around Alex on his shoulder before he started swaying back and forth. The infant had other ideas, though. To let his _táta_ know what he thought about naptime, he curled a tiny fist around a short lock of Tomas' white hair and yanked as hard as he could.

"Ow!" he yelped as involuntary tears sprang to his eyes. He tried to pull his head away, but his son had an iron grip and refused to let go. "Alexander!" he cried in exasperation.

"Ta ta ta ta ta," the baby babbled in response before he squealed loudly into Tomas' ear.

* * *

"What's that smell?" Tomas asked as Alex played on the floor with some baby blocks, a seemingly endless ball of energy.

He had a hunch what it was and where – or rather, _who_ – it was coming from. He immediately dropped down on all fours from the couch and crawled to his son, which made the child giggle in delight. He clapped his hands together and then rolled onto his belly to crawl away, thinking to play a game of tag.

"Alexander?" he asked, feigning a stern tone of voice. "Come here, _mu_ _žíč_ _ek_!" The baby squealed as he scooted along faster, unable to shake his father. Tomas' cybernetic hand shot out and gently grabbed him by the ankle before he pulled him back to him. The boy laughed even harder as his father said, "Ah-ha! Got you!"

Immediately, Tomas realized the source of the smell: a dirty diaper. The Enenra wrinkled his nose. This had been his least favorite part of fatherhood as Anya was training him. But Tomas hoisted Alex into his arms and carried him to the changing table inside his master bathroom where he gingerly began peeling off the foul-smelling disposable diaper. It was like opening a Christmas present that no one wanted or even asked for, and when he'd pulled back the front flap, he was greeted by a stinking mess of mushy brown poo.

"Ugh, _můj syn_ , what have you been eating?" he asked in disgust. "I didn't think _anything_ could smell worse than your Uncle Kuai Liang!" He thought about it for a moment. "Well, maybe a Tarkatan…"

But Alex didn't laugh at his joke because he was already bawling in hysterics like he was being killed. Tomas had learned on the very first day that of all the babies in the Lin Kuei, his son was the only one who _hated_ getting changed. And this time was no different. As the cyber-ninja yanked the dirty diaper from beneath his son's bottom and then quickly cleaned him off with baby wipes, Alex screamed while alligator tears poured from his eyes.

"Well, would you prefer I let you sit in your own mess?" Tomas pointedly asked him, exasperated. But naturally, Alex didn't understand him, and still kept crying.

The Enenra sighed as he balled up the dirty diaper and wipes and looked around for somewhere to put them. He thought of the trash can, but didn't want _that_ smell lingering around. But he couldn't take it to the incinerator either. Anya was very firm on that point; he could _not_ leave Alex alone on a changing table for even just one second. But Tomas quickly thought of an alternative. He'd just incinerate the problem right here and now. He set the diaper in the bathroom sink and then pressed a couple of buttons on his cybernetic gauntlet, which prompted a small stream of fire to explode from his palm and set the mess on fire. It quickly dissolved to ash and then Tomas turned on the faucet to wash the remains down the drain. Some char marks remained, but he could clean those later.

Then he turned around to finish diapering Alex. But his son, who had nothing to shield his penis because Tomas had forgotten to cover him up like Anya had instructed, promptly peed up his father's nose. He had exceptional aim.

* * *

Around lunchtime, both Tomas and Alex were hungry, and the baby frantically cried for some food. Hastily, the cyber-ninja strapped his son into his high chair and then worked to fix a bottle for him and warm up some jars of baby food. But, that wasn't quick enough for Alex, who started to scream even harder now, his impatience knowing no bounds. Tomas, frazzled by this point, looked around for something to give him _right now_ , just to tide him over until his food was properly prepared. At last, his eyes found something: a cinnamon roll that Tomas had saved from breakfast.

He handed it to his son, who immediately stopped crying and looked at the pastry in curiosity. Gingerly, he put one of his hands on it and scooped up a chunk of bread and icing, forcing it in his mouth. He gummed it until it became a gooey mess of slobber and cinnamon roll, but he squealed and grabbed another chunk. Tomas sighed in relief.

"I want you to know how much you mean to me," he told him. "I wouldn't part with a pastry for just _anyone_." Alex ignored him, but the cyber-ninja smiled regardless and went back to fixing lunch in his kitchenette. It was almost done.

But that was when Anya peeked in. "Tomas?" she called from the doorway.

"Come in, _miláček_ ," he told her, carefully measuring the powdered formula into the warm water. "How did your appointment go?"

"It was fine," she said, walking towards him. "The doctor said that-" She abruptly cut herself off in midsentence, and then she looked from Alex to him in horror, but pointing at the baby. "Is he eating a _cinnamon roll_?" she almost yelled.

"Yeah," he chirped, shrugging, before he went about his work. "So what?"

"Tomas, he's too little to eat adult food!" she quietly exclaimed. "He could choke!"

"It's not his real lunch," the cyber-ninja argued. "But he was crying a lot and wouldn't calm down while I made his food."

"So, you bribed him," she said, looking at him sternly while crossing her arms.

"Pretty much," he told her nonchalantly.

"That's just great, Tomas," she hissed. "Now _I_ get to be the bad guy." And with that, she walked to the high chair and took the mushy remnants of the roll from Alex. The baby looked at Anya in surprise, a wounded expression crossing his face, and then immediately started to cry again. "I'm sorry, baby," she cooed at him.

"Anya, I can _handle_ this!" Tomas said in exasperation, hating to hear his son cry. By that point, the bottle was finished so he handed it to Alex and watched as he started to guzzle it down. "How am I supposed to learn if you don't let me make mistakes, She-devil?"

"And what kind of a teacher, nurse, and mother would I be if I didn't correct your mistakes when I caught them?" she shot back. "And stop calling me 'She-devil.' It's misogynistic."

Tomas glared at her before he pressed a button on his wrist-communicator. A blue light indicated that the connection he wanted had been established. "My _pr̆ítel_ , come get your wife!"

A weary sigh answered him. "I'll be right there," Kuai Liang replied.

"I'm leaving," she growled as Tomas tapped his wrist-comm again and ended the call. "But _don't_ give him pastries or any other adult food again. I'm not kidding. He doesn't have enough teeth to chew it yet, and he _will_ choke."

With that, Anya rubbed Alex's head and planted a kiss on his downy black hair, scowled at Tomas, and then marched out indignantly. The Enenra glared at her as she left. She was so bossy sometimes! But, a small voice grudgingly conceded a moment later, she had been right. He seemed to recall her telling him that Alex couldn't handle grown-up food yet for a variety of reasons. As the memory flashed through his head, he felt a surge of self-doubt. He looked at his infant son happily guzzling the contents of his bottle, and sighed.

* * *

Alex was clearly exhausted, so Tomas rocked him for a little while until he dozed off. Finally, one small victory today. Inhaling deeply, he tiredly got to his feet, still cradling his infant son in his arms, and carried him to his nursery. Carefully, he set the boy in his crib, which was decorated with pictures and blankets full of bunny rabbits as Tomas had requested. They had been _his_ favorite animal when he was a boy, before the Lin Kuei purged any and all joy from his life. The baby stirred slightly, but stretched out on his side and brought a few fingers to his mouth, sucking them. The Enenra smiled and made a mock show of wiping his brow before tiptoeing away.

Alex immediately started to cry.

" _Zatraceně_!" he swore under his breath. Then he tiredly wiped his eyes, longing for a nap himself. But he stepped back to the crib and picked up his child. Instantly, Alex stopped crying, and cooed and murmured softly as Tomas wrapped the blanket tightly around him, swaying back and forth. It only took a minute before Alex dozed off again, and once more, Tomas laid him in the crib to the same end. As soon as he let him go this time, he started crying. Frowning, unsure of how to handle this, he scooped his baby up and started pacing the floor.

"Come on, _mu_ _žíč_ _ek_ ," he quietly said, "you're so tired. And your _táta_ is so tired. _Please_ take a nap."

But Alex refused to leave his father's arms.

* * *

Tomas found himself in his sitting area again, fumbling with the DVD player and TV that had been set up in his quarters. As he turned the equipment on and inserted a movie for Alex to watch – a purely educational one, Anya had informed him when she gave it to him – he shook his head in amazement. Kuai Liang had definitely changed the Lin Kuei. When they were children, they had no such luxuries anywhere in the Temple. He wasn't quite used to all this space and all these fine things. He was happy to have them, but they felt strange and alien to him.

Soon, the movie menu came on, and he pushed the appropriate buttons on the remote control to play it. Within seconds, there were four bizarre looking creatures on the screen, one green, one yellow, one red, and one purple. They had strangely shaped antennae on their heads, and unnerving troll-doll faces. They spoke no real words, but kept uttering things like "tinky winky" and "laa-laa." Tomas looked at it in horror, his mouth comically opened wide, wondering how in the hell this was supposed to be educational. Beside him, Alexander looked up at the screen, watched in earnest for a moment, and then burst into tears.

Tomas glanced at him and apologized as he fumbled with the controls to turn off the movie. "Oh, _můj syn_ , I'm so sorry!" he said as he gathered his son in his arms and patted him reassuringly. "That frightened me as well. I'll never turn it on again."

* * *

Tomas pulled up a tall stool next to Alex's high chair and carefully arranged the warm jars of baby food on the tray. The baby looked up at him with sparkling eyes and giggled as he squirmed excitedly in his seat. It prompted his father to laugh, and he patted him on the head before gently stroking his cheek, tickling it. Alex squealed once more, bouncing in his chair.

"What shall we start with today, _mu_ _žíč_ _ek_?" he asked, picking up each jar and reading the label. "Should we start with some vegetables? I warmed up some mashed peas for you." Alex babbled at him, making him smile. "When I was growing up, my teachers always said that eating all of my vegetables would make me big and strong. And now I am, so I guess they were right." He winked at the boy as he swirled a baby spoon through the sickly green mush.

With the spoon loaded, he shoved the food into Alex's mouth. The infant quieted down and savored the flavor for a long moment, smacking his lips. Then, his happy face vanished, replaced by an ugly look of disgust. Promptly, he blew a raspberry to spit them out, and a burst of green exploded on his father's face and hair.

"Uhhhh!" Tomas cried in disgust, wiping the drool and peas from his face. Some of it still dripped from his short, white hair. "Why did you do that, Alexander?" he asked a moment later. "There is nothing wrong with peas. Here, see?" he prodded, scooping up a spoonful and tasting it to show his son.

But instead of the slightly sweet, earthy flavor he was expecting, his taste buds were enveloped by bitterness that was somehow impossibly bland at the same time. It was as if he'd just taken a bite of mashed up wood pulp. Instantly, his facial expression changed to one of disgust, and involuntarily, peas and spit drooled from his mouth onto the tray.

* * *

"So this one, _můj syn_ , is called a missile," Tomas explained as he held up an unmarked, gray rocket that was precisely six inches long. He'd plucked it, as well as many other grenades, from his internal arsenal. Arranged on the island in his kitchenette were neat lines of various ordnances that the Enenra carried on him at all times. Alex sat in the very middle of the large square, clapping and happily jabbering away while he listened to his father talk. Curiously, he picked up a dark gray orb that was the size of an orange, with a thin crevice running the entire diameter.

"Ah, a good choice," Tomas proudly said. "That is my _favorite_. Do you know what it is?" Alex merely looked up at him and smiled. "That is called a flash-bang grenade. It will blind your opponent _and_ deafen him at the same time. Sure, I could easily destroy him with one of my bigger missiles, but one of these allows me the opportunity to fight him with my bare hands once he's stunned."

"Tomas?" Anya's voice called out as she grew closer. "I knocked but you didn't answer. Is everything okay?"

"Go away, She-devil!" he snapped, still annoyed with her about the cinnamon roll.

"I came to apologize," she said as she rounded the corner. Immediately, her hand went to her mouth and she staggered in surprise. "Oh, my God!" she yelped. "Tomas, what in the _hell_ are you doing? Why in the hell is Alex holding a grenade? And _please_ tell me those aren't live."

"They're live," he said, grimacing. He got the distinct feeling he'd made yet another mistake. "I pulled them from my chest arsenal just a few minutes ago."

She gasped, her voice about three octaves higher than normal. Her face turned a ghastly shade of pale as she lunged towards the countertop and pulled the flash-bang grenade from Alex's hands and tossed it to Tomas. Then she snatched the baby off the island and backed away from the kitchenette.

"What are you doing?" he demanded to know.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" she hissed. "You don't let babies play with weapons. And explosives? Jesus Christ, Tomas. Where's your common sense?"

"Oh, give me a break, Anya," he angrily shot back. "I was just trying to teach my son about the things that I do. He was perfectly safe. _I_ have to activate them. There's no way _he_ could cause them to explode."

"Famous last words," she growled as she cradled Alex tightly to her shoulder and worriedly pressed her hand into the back of his head. "Put those away. _Now_."

"Give Alexander back to me," he barked, growing angry.

"Not until you put those away," she argued. "And call Kuai Liang. I'll fight with him too. I'm not afraid of either one of you."

" _Zatraceně_ , Anya, you're not his mother!"

Tomas regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. Hurt replaced the fear in her lavender eyes, and her lips quivered.

"Yeah," she said a moment later, her voice shaking, "but you're no kind of a father."

Now it was his turn to be hurt. He looked at her, shaking his head, deep down knowing that what she'd said was true. With a wounded frown, he started gathering up his ordnance and carefully placing it back inside his arsenal. This was a mistake. One huge mistake. Why on Earth did he think he was ready to handle Alex on his own?

When he was done putting his weapons away, he looked at Anya. "Can I have him back, now?" he asked quietly.

"Tomas, I…I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean it." Tears streamed down her face and her voice threatened to crack. "You're doing good, you really are. I mean, there are so many absentee fathers in this world, but you? _You're_ trying. You just…you just have to be more mindful." With that, she handed Alex back to him.

He cradled his son close to him, smelling his hair, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry too," he said. "I shouldn't have said that. I know you're just looking out for his best interest. And you're the closest thing he has to a mother. I know I couldn't do this without you."

She nodded, scrubbing the tears from her eyes. "He looks like he needs a nap," she gently suggested.

Tomas scoffed. "Yeah, we _both_ do," he admitted.

"I can see that," she said, her voice sympathetic. "Do you…do you want me to take him for a while so you can have a break? Sometimes a break is a healthy thing, you know."

The cyber-ninja ardently shook his head. "No," he said. "I'm determined to make it through _one_ day on my own."

"Okay," she half-smiled. "Then I'll leave you to it. But if you change your mind, I'll be in the infirmary working until dinnertime."

"Thanks," he sadly mumbled. She half-nodded and then walked away, leaving his living quarters.

* * *

Tomas found himself back in the rocking chair with Alex and daydreaming about Kailyn. He wished she were here, and he thought of her often. But his son kept squirming and whining and trying to break free, and therefore kept interrupting his thoughts. He sighed and let the baby slide down to his lap, and he leaned him against his cybernetic arm. This seemed to placate the child, but only for a minute. And then, Alex pounded a chubby palm onto his father's gauntlet's control panel, hitting a launch button.

Immediately, a missile flew from Tomas' mechanical hand, filling the room with a thick trail of smoke and an ear-piercing whistle. In a split second, it slammed into the front wall of his living quarters, the one separating his room from the hallway outside. Instantly, it exploded in a ball of fire that shook the entire Temple. Plaster fell from the ceiling as burning bits of drywall fluttered to the floor. But Tomas didn't see any of this because the second the missile left him, he had pulled Alex behind the rocking chair to shield them both from injury.

"What in the _hell_ did you just do to my Temple?" Kuai Liang's furious voice soon shouted through the gaping hole in the wall. Tomas cautiously peeked over the rocking chair's armrest and looked at his Grandmaster. Behind him, several curious bystanders looked at the opening in shock.

"Aggressive expansion?" he said with a nervous chuckle as he tiredly rested his face on his human arm. Then he looked down at Alex. "I think I made a mistake in teaching you about my weapons, _můj syn_ ," he said. The boy giggled.

* * *

After Alex had finished drinking his bottle, Tomas hoisted him from his high chair and walked around his living quarters, patting the baby on the back to coerce a burp from him. Several long minutes passed, and as the cyber-ninja paced the floor, his eyes began to droop. Some days he _really_ missed being automated and not needing to sleep. But then again, he thought, if he was automated, he couldn't appreciate the feel of his son in his arms, or smell his fragrant hair after a good bath, or giggle whenever Alex did. This was definitely better.

And then he heard an astonishingly loud yet terrifying sound escape the baby. For a split second, Tomas imagined that his son had been replaced by some horrible creature from mythology, perhaps the Kraken, as his tiny lungs rumbled and his entire body shook. The sound abruptly quieted, but at that moment, something warm and gooey spilled down the cyber-ninja's shoulder and splattered his hair. Tomas wrinkled his face in disgust as dread filled him. He _knew_ what had just happened, but he didn't want to believe it. Quickly, he hurried to the bathroom and looked at him and Alex in the mirror. As expected, a sticky mess of half-digested formula stained his plain black t-shirt and stark white hair with vomit. He made a face.

"Alexander…" he trailed off, not really knowing what else could go wrong today.

Tiredly, he wiped what spit-up he could off his shirt, but it was still damp and highlighted with white residue. Alex's silvery eyes, he saw though, were growing heavy when the cyber-ninja switched him to the other shoulder. It was a point lost on the exhausted Tomas, who meandered to the sitting area with his son, prepared to declare defeat. He had been bested by a baby. He shook his head in self-loathing.

* * *

"Anya, I think you've argued enough with Tomas for one day," Kuai Liang sternly told his wife as he followed her towards his friend's sleeping quarters. "This is becoming ridiculous. You _need_ to let go. Tomas can handle a baby."

"He _is_ a baby," she shot back, though she said it with more affection than anything. "But that's not why I want to go talk to him," she stubbornly declared, leading the Grandmaster through the maze of hallways after she'd missed him and Alex at dinner. It wasn't like the Enenra to miss a meal. "I just want to make sure he's okay. I still feel terrible about what I said to him earlier."

"And you should," he told her in all sincerity. She'd confessed to him what she'd said, and he wasn't particularly happy with her about it. "Tomas is many things, but he's not an idiot. You've got to let him handle this on his own."

"You're right," she said. "You're totally right. I guess I'm just…"

"Crazy?" he suggested. "Overbearing? Stubborn? Proud?"

Anya glared at him. "I was gonna say that I felt like I was losing my child," she hissed. "And I was gonna say that was _my_ problem and not his. But, please, feel free to keep putting me down. Because that's not gonna make me want to sleep on the couch tonight or anything."

"You're not sleeping on the couch," he sighed, annoyed. The feeling grew even stronger when he saw the gaping hole in the wall from where Alex accidentally launched one of Tomas' missiles.

"Like you're gonna stop me," she challenged, marching forward. "You're such a jer-"

She abruptly stopped in her tracks and stood before the hole when she looked inside. As Kuai Liang caught up to her, she smiled and crossed her arms. He immediately saw why. Right inside the room, laying on the bigger of the two couches, was Tomas snoring quietly. His poor friend's hair was stained green and crusty with white, and his training clothes looked as if vultures had gotten to his wardrobe. But lying on top of his chest swaddled in a baby blanket, his face peaceful and cherubic as he slept as well, was Alex.


	4. Catja

**Author's Note: My apologies for the lateness of this update. I originally planned to do Stryker's chapter, but for the life of me, I couldn't think of what to write. So I gave up and worked on this instead. If you have any ideas as to what Stryker can do with Johnny while chilling in Seido, learning some inner peace, please let me know in a review or PM. Otherwise, I'm gonna just gonna roll his story into Kabal's. :p**

 **Now, to address my reviewers comments/questions:**

 **Dr. MKDemigodZ-Warrior - No, Kailyn's chapter won't be for much later. However, she _will_ make an appearance in this chapter ;)**

 **Lin Kuei Unit LK-4D4 - Haha thanks :) Cyrax is quite a bit more serious about stuff than Smoke, so he's more stern and less warm and fuzzy. Though, he _does_ care about Gatimu as well. Maybe I'll show them interacting in a future chapter. **

**Guest - As I stated in my last chapter, in my head he just ran off to rejoin his Tekunin. Maybe he'll make a comeback. Who knows?**

 **ROCuevas - Aw, thanks! I'm glad you thought so :)**

 **Obelisk of Light - He's definitely something else, I agree! XD**

 **iceangelmkx - Those snot suckers are gross, but they really come in handy when you don't want to get boogers on your fingers :p I could imagine your kitty cats accidentally launching a rocket! LOL**

 **PunkRoseBlitz (and I think Guest too, yes?) - Aw, thanks. I'm glad you were moved to tears. I know you're really busy with everything, so no worries. I'm just glad you've found your way to me and are enjoying my work :D**

 **Mileena1996 - Thanks!**

 **Jason - I could, but I don't really want to LOL Sorry.**

* * *

Catja, Queen of the Hydromancers, rose early from her sleep and was greeted by the sun, which Kotal Kahn had blessedly returned to Outworld months ago. Since that time, the plant and wildlife was gradually beginning to recover, and that morning, she woke to the scent of blooming flowers wafting through her hut's window, mingling with smoky wood burnt to cinders and nearly extinguished altogether. Hmm…smoke. She closed her eyes, reminded of the mission that she would embark upon that day.

"Kailyn?" she called, her voice carrying loudly into the next room. After the Grand Healer, Adaia, had died in battle, Catja had invited Kailyn and Morgan to stay with her so as not to be alone. But the Tetrach, grieving the loss of her mother, always kept to herself, never leaving the safe confines of her room for anyone, not even Morgan. Today, though, her Queen had other ideas; today, the Tetrach was going on this mission with her, and with any luck, it would be the cure for what ailed her.

Catja opened the curtain that divided Kailyn's room from the rest of the house, and not surprisingly, found her young protégé already awake but balancing precariously on the windowsill, looking upon Tlachtga as it, too, rose from its slumber. The Tetrach looked thinner than normal, even though the Lin Kuei had personally given the Hydromancers more food than they'd had in ages, including seeds and farming implements to grow their own crops, and it was no longer in short supply. Her face was leaner, gaunt, and dark circles of exhaustion ringed her eyes. Catja, having worked as a nurse in Earthrealm, recognized the physical symptoms of depression well, and knew that the woman before her suffered greatly from it.

"Where's Morgan?" she asked, though she knew the answer.

"Rhiannon took her to the morning meal," Kailyn somberly answered.

"That's good," she said. "Rhiannon can look after her while you come with me. I want to go hunting."

Kailyn looked at her in surprise. "Milady, you have not gone hunting in years."

"Then I feel as if I should be encouraged to do so more often," the older woman pointedly remarked.

"I do not feel like hunting," she said, turning her attention back to the village below.

"I don't believe I asked you if you felt like it," she firmly replied. "Your Queen is going hunting, and as Tetrach, you _will_ accompany her in order to ensure her safety."

Kailyn sighed heavily. "Yes, Milady." She slid from her spot on the windowsill. "What are we hunting?"

"That remains to be seen," she cryptically answered as she led her to the stairs and they descended to the main level. "But whatever it is, it'll do you some good to get out in the sunlight."

So a few hours later, both Queen and Tetrach – fully armed with bows and quivers full of arrows – trekked silently through the woods. The hunting trip was merely a ruse, but Catja maintained the charade until they stumbled upon an animal not unlike a stag from Earthrealm. Both she and Kailyn stopped dead in their tracks while she lifted her bow. The poor animal was oblivious to their presence. Catja waited for a clean shot, peering at it closely with her one good eye, hearing her own heartbeat pound between her ears. Finally, it turned, revealing its vulnerable side. She exhaled slowly and released her arrow. It found its mark and the animal, predictably, bolted in fear.

"It won't make it far," Catja said. "Come. We need to track it and put it out of its misery."

"Yes, Milady," Kailyn said. She had barely spoken since they left the village.

The two warriors found the stag a short distance away, in a flat clearing. It had collapsed onto its side, the arrow jutting from a spot just behind its front leg. It wheezed and whimpered pitifully, and looked at them with terrified eyes. Catja felt a pang of guilt as she always did when she harmed a living creature, but she knew that his meat would provide the village with food for several weeks. Quickly, not wishing to prolong his pain, she shot an arrow through his eye and into his brain, finishing him off.

The Queen knelt beside her kill and bowed her head as she rested her hand over his heart. "Thank the Elder Gods for providing for us," she reverently prayed. "And thank you, Brother, for your sacrifice."

"That is a strange custom," Kailyn remarked as she now knelt beside the deer with a knife unsheathed. Together, she and Catja began to field dress the stag. "I have always wondered why you do that."

"You don't thank the Elder Gods when you find food?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. Kailyn was an incredibly devout believer, undoubtedly influenced by her equally devout and reverent father, not to mention her feelings for Lord Fujin.

"I thank the gods, yes," she said. "But I do not thank the animal. It is only an animal."

"He has a soul, Kailyn, the same as you and I," she told her. "He gave its life to help nourish and sustain us. The least we can do is show it our respect and gratitude."

"I never thought of it that way," the blond woman said after a long pause.

Catja smiled as she worked with her own knife to make an incision from its breastbone to its anus. "I confess I have an ulterior motive for bringing you out here," she announced when she was done. Her hands were sticky with dark, red blood already drying in clots. The Tetrach promptly took over, carefully slicing through the abdominal wall.

Kailyn looked at her in surprise. "What?"

"Tlachtga needs a new King," she said. "The Elders and I have been arguing nonstop about it since Henryk died in battle. It has not yet become official, but the majority of them want Anluan to rule."

A stormy red thundercloud crossed the Tetrach's face. "You must stop them, Milady!" she snapped as she withdrew her bloody hand from her incision. "He _cannot_ be allowed to have a position of authority over me. He-"

"Will force you to mate with him. Yes, I know," she interrupted. She took over where Kailyn left off, continuing the process of removing the stag's vital organs. "He has already begun pushing for your coupling. He believes you will give him strong children."

"He cannot force me to do anything," she growled. She resumed her prior task, and furiously cut off the stag's penis and testicles at the root. "Especially now that the Grand Healer who decides such things is gone!"

"He has pointed out that it will be many years before Anya is ready to take over as the Grand Healer, even with Himavat teaching her," she responded, now working to remove the stag's bladder and urinary tract system. "In the meantime, Anluan wants the Elders to decide when and with whom our people will mate. And unfortunately, they agree with him. You and he _will_ create strong children."

"I will _not_ do it," she stubbornly snarled. "You will have to kill me."

"I'm not going to kill you." She sighed. "Instead, I was going to suggest that _now_ might be the time you go to Tomas in Earthrealm to begin a new life."

Kailyn recoiled at that. "I…" she trailed off sadly, looking away. The Queen knew immediately that it was a sore spot for her. "I cannot go to him," she said.

"And why not?" Catja challenged, arms-deep in hot, steamy blood and guts. "It's been months since your mother died. You've mourned her for an appropriate length of time. Rain's body rots on our gate, proof that you've avenged her murder. Now, it's time to move on and be happy. That's what she would want for you."

"I…am not ready," she frowned as blood coated her hands and forearms. "I may never be ready. And I may never want to join him."

The Queen scoffed at that. "You gave him the Tetrach's Kiss, Kailyn. I know that Tomas means the world to you. So I don't believe that you'll never want him. I'm certain that you think about him all the time."

Kailyn frowned, blushed, and focused intently on her work. "Yes," she softly admitted. "But it is not a good time for me to go. I am still sad about my mother and I do not know if I will ever feel right again. I also do not feel comfortable moving to Earthrealm. I know almost nothing about it. The humans will all treat me like a stupid foreigner, I am sure of it. And what about Morgan? Will it be good for her to grow up there, away from her people?"

Catja gazed at her intently. "You know what I think?"

"No, Milady."

"I think you're scared."

Kailyn indignantly wrinkled her lightly freckled nose. "I am _not_ scared."

"Yes, you are," she argued. "And it's completely understandable. Moving to Earthrealm will be difficult. But to do so for someone you love? To show him enough trust? That's downright terrifying." She smiled. "I can relate."

"You, Milady?" she asked in puzzlement as they both now hauled the animal onto its belly to let the organs slide onto the ground.

"I _did_ move to Earthrealm once, you know," she said with a wink.

"What was it like for you?" she curiously prodded. "When you first arrived, I mean."

Catja inhaled deeply, remembering back to that time when she first crossed over with Halsey and little Anya, who was roughly two, in tow. "It was frightening," she admitted. "I had no idea what I'd do in a place like that. But you know what was even _more_ frightening?"

"No, Milady, I do not."

"Agreeing to give your father and my future husband my heart years before," she explained with a knowing grin.

XXXXX

Catja let her face settle into a sour, standoffish expression as she trekked through the wilderness, determined to intimidate Halsey, who had made it painfully apparent that he desired her. The two warriors – the Tetrach and the Chief, respectively – had been sent on a hunting trip to find food for the starving people of Tlachtga. They were not the only hunting party sent out; several others searched for animals in other directions, but the two best warriors in the village had been paired up because Halsey had requested it. The Chief had relentlessly pursued Catja's affections for months now, and even though she was adamant that she would never succumb, he persisted. And it was starting to work, she grudgingly admitted. But she had no time for romance or love – she was the Tetrach, after all – so she worked as hard as she could to keep him at a distance.

"You're walkin' pretty fast, Milady," he commented, huffing a little. Though he was in remarkable shape the same as her, he was having trouble keeping up with her. "It's like ya don't want me around."

"I'm sorry, was I being too subtle?" she hissed as she hopped over a giant fallen tree trunk, using her ornately decorated spear to propel herself.

"What have ya got against me?" he wondered out loud.

"Nothing," she said, and it was true. "I'm just curious to know how long you're going to continue this charade in order to bed me."

"Ya wound me," he said with an indignant scoff. "I have a little more honor than _that_."

"I'll believe it when I see it," she muttered under her breath, stopping just long enough to adjust the strap on her quiver, which was painfully digging into her bare shoulder, and had been for the last several miles.

"Ya really have a poor opinion of the men, don't ya?" he panted as he caught up.

"They've earned it," she growled. She thought of the Hydromancers, and how even now, many of the male warriors looked down upon the Falcata as annoying children playing at war. Even her father, the Grand Healer Caedmon, believed she should put down her spear and work at more womanly things like weaving and bearing strong children, particularly sons.

"Perhaps," Halsey admitted with a sad, knowing smile. "But we're not _all_ dishonorable dogs. Some of us appreciate how hard the Falcata work." With that, he gently pulled a loose strand of dark hair from her leather shoulder pad and dropped it to the side. Then he helped her adjust her quiver's strap. "Where do ya think we'll have the best chance of findin' food?" he asked when he was finished, crossing his arms and looking at her pointedly.

She inhaled deeply and glanced to the west. "I think that our best bet is to head to the Chalk Cliffs," she replied. "They're close to both us and the ocean. Where there's water, there's life."

"I concur," he agreed. He held out his hand to allow her to lead. "After you, Milady," he politely said as he let her pass. Several miles went by before he spoke again. Then he said, "You've known me since we were children, Catja. I don't understand this animosity ya have for me. I thought ya were my friend."

"We're not children anymore," she replied, though she winced because once, they _were_ very goodfriends. Right up until the moment he'd lain with Adaia. "Things have changed."

"Not from where I'm standin'," he said.

"Where you're standing isn't the only spot that matters," she snapped.

Halsey sighed. "Then tell me what yer position is. Maybe I can assuage yer concerns."

Catja shook her head. "It's nothing."

"Tell me," he prodded.

"There's nothing to tell," she stubbornly insisted.

"Oh, yes there is, and I won't leave ya alone until ya spill it."

The Tetrach set her jaw and narrowed her eyes. "You've been with Adaia," she began with a hard edge in her voice.

At that, Halsey burst out laughing. With a scowl, Catja stopped in her tracks, whirled around, and stared at him. He smiled, snickering. "You're jealous," he accused. "And of yer dearest friend, a woman who could very well be yer sister, at that."

"I am no such thing!" she protested as her cheeks flushed red in humiliation. "I'm just not anxious to be your next conquest."

"Ya know I had no choice in that, Catja," he gently said, resting his hands on her shoulders. "She was anythin' but a conquest. The _gods_ willed that. I _had_ to obey."

"And I'm sure you were very heartbroken about being told to lay with her," she indignantly snorted. "That's fine, though. Whatever tickles your fancy. But unlike other women, I'm _not_ a toy that you can play with whenever you get an itch. So bar the notion."

"Do ya honestly believe that's why I love ya?" he said, cocking his head with an amused smile. "No. You've been my dearest friend since we were in the cradle. I've loved ya since we were old enough to walk."

Catja stiffened and swallowed hard. Her heart tugged towards his. If she were being truly honest with herself, she'd admit that she'd felt attracted to him for many years as well, and it had hurt her when he and Adaia were chosen to lay together to conceive Kailyn. She wanted to forgive him just like she wanted to give in to his advances. But no. She couldn't let her brain be addled by any of this. She had a job to do and she couldn't do it if she was preoccupied by love.

"We have to go," she mumbled, wriggling free of his grasp. "We're on a mission."

"Would it really be so terrible givin' me a chance?" he wondered. "Sooner or later, you're goin' to have to trust someone. Why don't ya let that someone be me?"

"I'm the Tetrach," she replied. "I have neither the desire nor the luxury to give you what you want."

"Oh, don't give me that," he scolded. "Ya could if ya wanted to."

"So what does that tell you?" she shot back. And then she sighed, not wanting to argue any further. "Just be quiet," she ordered, exercising her authority over him. "We should hunt in silence so as not to scare away the animals."

"As you wish, Milady," he said.

The miles after that passed quietly. Eventually, the thick forest of mostly dead trees gave way to plains, and soon after that, jagged grooves scarred the landscape, which gradually became rockier and steeper. Catja led Halsey through a jagged and reasonably wide canyon, and as they walked through the darkness, fear that she could not understand began to settle uncomfortably on her heart. It gripped her very soul, and every fiber of her being screamed at her to turn back. The hair on her arms and legs prickled suddenly. She whirled around to look at her partner.

In the moonlight, he glanced at her in surprise. "What's wrong, Milady?" he asked her.

"I feel as if something is watching us," she whispered. "I sense it."

Immediately, Halsey began scanning the surrounding cliffs and shadows, studying them intently by the dull bluish moonlight. But both he and she failed to look to the skies for the threat. There came a powerful gust of wind that blasted dirt in their eyes and carried the shrill voice of some frightening monster to them, a squawk that cleaved the night in two. The blast of wind ripped her spear from her hands, and it tumbled onto the ground with a hard clank behind her. And then she saw the creature diving from a black hole of shadow from the cliff above.

It was the shape of a fearsome bird of prey, but far larger than even the biggest eagle she'd ever seen. Its wings blocked out the moon in its entirety, and must have spanned fifty feet. Tufts of feathers formed a crown of horns on its head, and its body was dark brown, flecked with spots of white and black, but the head and the belly of the animal was stark white. Its eyes glowed an alarming yellow, and they fixated on her as it dove towards her with its mighty talons grasping forward.

It swooped at the Tetrach with a frightening screech and then easily scooped her, unchallenged, into one of its scaly fists. Knobby joints and painfully strong digits clamped around Catja's body as it ascended again, never touching the ground. Below them, Halsey shouted incoherently at her, shooting arrows towards the monstrous bird. But the creature was too fast. It soared out of range within seconds.

The temptation to panic welled up in Catja, but she shoved it away and remembered the knife carefully sheathed inside her wrist brace. She squirmed a little and the bird let her, clearly unconcerned that she'd escape. Quickly, she unsheathed the dagger in spite of the claustrophobic confines of its grasp and jammed it hard into the underside of its foot. Instantly, the bird screeched and let her go, and immediately the Tetrach was free-falling towards the ground. She screamed, vaguely wishing she'd thought that plan through a little bit more.

Within seconds, Catja slammed into the dirt so hard that a cloud of dust exploded around her and her fresh imprint in the ground, and a sharp pain crackled up her dominant arm, her fighting arm. It had taken the brunt of the damage, but even still, her belly ached from landing on her front side, and both of her knees gushed blood. Groaning, she flopped over onto her back, now noticing how a bone – her red blood glistening on the dull ivory – jutted from her forearm.

And then the bird was upon her again, this time having landed. With a sharp beak designed by nature to rend flesh apart, it began to peck at her. She shrieked, even as she kicked her feet at its beak to keep it away, but it still found her every few tries, and it yanked entire holes from the muscles on her exposed legs. A fearsome yell answered her distressed cry. Disturbed as if from some dream, she turned her head in time to see Halsey charging forward with his storm sword in one hand and her spear in the other. He lobbed the spear at the bird and then chopped his sword at the foot, lopping off one of its man-sized talons. It squealed and took flight once more, abandoning – for now, anyway – its prey.

"Catja," he breathlessly muttered as he dropped to her side. "You're hurt-"

"We need to find cover," she interrupted, her voice dazed and weak.

Halsey sighed and shook his head. "You're right," he agreed. "That buzzard won't be smartin' from his wounds for long. He'll be back." He glanced at her legs, which were smeared with blood that was silvery in the moonlight. "Can you walk?"

The Tetrach nodded drowsily. "Help me up," she mumbled, and he obeyed. Then he threaded her good arm over his shoulder and helped her hobble into the deep shadow of a nearby cave.

"Ya took a good beatin', Milady," he said as he built a small fire.

"Nothing that won't heal in its own time or with Adaia's help," Catja replied as she tiredly leaned against the stone wall.

"Except for yer arm," he argued. "Let me take a look." He carefully inspected the fracture and then sighed as he shook his head. "We need to get ya back to Tlachtga," he said. "Adaia can-"

"Just pop it back into place," she ordered.

Halsey wrinkled his nose and frowned. "Are ya out of yer mind?" he said. "Without her herbs to ease your pain, that would be agony."

"I want that bird," she growled in response.

"What?" he asked, quizzically raising his eyebrow.

She met his lavender eyes. "That bird has enough meat on it to feed our entire village for the winter," she explained. "I want it."

"And if ya get it, how are ya plannin' on gettin' it home?" he challenged. "That thing must be pretty heavy."

"I will _drag_ it all the way to Tlachtga if I have to, but I want it," she insisted. "And in order to hunt it, I require the full use of my arm."

The Chief shook his head with a disbelieving chuckle. "Stubborn girl," he scoffed, though his tone was affectionate. "Very well. Brace yourself."

He softly brushed his fingers against the surrounding tissues, trying to discern landmarks beneath her skin. Catja winced as he did so, barely able to withstand it, but she refused to make any sound at all. That, she knew, would come in a minute. She was right. In a moment, he quickly shoved the bone back into her arm and into place. The Tetrach, however, screamed and began to cry, and she ripped her limb from him and cradled it to her body as if doing so would ease her suffering.

"I'm sorry," Halsey apologized as she sobbed into her knees, which she'd pulled to her chest. He slid to her side and wrapped his arm around her. "I did what you asked."

Catja nodded. "I know," she said, calming herself as the pain faded. "Thank you."

"You still want that bird?" he asked, holding her close. Through his fingertips, she sensed sincere concern and compassion for her. She tried to ignore his true feelings of love for her, however, and instead focus on the task at hand.

"Yes," she said in determination.

"Then we'll get it after you've rested a spell," he told her.

"No, we need to go after it now," she replied. "That's an order."

He scoffed. "Perhaps it is," he agreed. "But I'm going to overrule ya on this one, Milady. Will ya just humor me for once? Ya need rest after a fall like that."

Catja inhaled deeply and then looked at him, frowning. She _was_ kind of drowsy. She'd undoubtedly hurt her brain a bit when she landed. "Fine," she grudgingly agreed as she craned her neck to look at him.

"That's a girl," he praised. "I knew ya could be reasonable when given the opportunity."

"You're an ass, Halsey," she grumbled.

"An ass that cares about ya," he smirked.

The Tetrach said nothing to that, and merely huddled against him for warmth, letting her eyes slide shut. Her arm screamed songs of pain throughout her body, as did her wounded legs, but otherwise she felt comfortable, completely safe. His body felt like it was a part of hers, blurred, as if she couldn't tell where she stopped and he began. To her surprise, she found that she enjoyed the feel of him so close to her. It wasn't long before she dozed off, listening to the quiet crackle of popping wood in the fire, thinking about him and how he felt just right against her.

When Catja woke up later – she wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep – she felt pleased that Halsey still held her in his arms. He noticed immediately that she'd awakened, and he smiled and softly said, "I remember a few years ago, when ya were first called Tetrach. I was so proud of ya. I always knew ya were destined for great things."

"You did?" she asked incredulously.

"How could ya not be?" he replied. "When we were all children, ya were always leadin' us on adventures, frequently gettin' us all in trouble." He laughed. "Ya were always a force to be reckoned with, and woe be to whomever got on yer bad side."

"Why are you telling me this now?" she wondered.

He inhaled deeply and grinned at her. "I have somethin' to show ya," he said.

Halsey helped Catja to her feet, and gripped her by the crook of her elbow to steady her walking. Then he led her outside, and immediately, her eyes bulged in shock. There, lying on its belly in the dirt, was the giant bird that had attacked her earlier. It was dead, field dressed, and tied to a sled to make dragging it easier.

"How…" she mumbled. "When…"

"Ya were out cold for two days," he explained. "I was beginnin' to worry, to be honest, Milady."

"You killed it?" she asked. "On your own? Why would you hunt something so dangerous without me?"

Halsey crossed his arms. "Because you wanted it," he said.

Catja looked at him in bewildered confusion. "Yes, but I meant that we would work _together_ to kill it."

"I know that," he replied. "But ya were banged up pretty bad and I knew there was no way ya were huntin' anytime soon." He glanced at here. "I also remember how, when ya first were called Tetrach, that I took a vow to honor and obey ya. I would follow ya without question into battle, and when necessary, protect yer life at my own life's expense. Ya were already hurt, but I knew ya wouldn't leave until we killed this overgrown buzzard. So to spare ya further pain and injury, I climbed up to its nest to kill it. We fought for a spell, and it took flight with me on its back. It wasn't hard to maneuver it here, and kill it after that." He grinned at her. "I can't believe ya slept through it. We made a horrendous ruckus."

"I…I don't know what to say," she said. "You risked your life simply to help me?"

He scoffed. "Don't make a big deal of it because I'm makin' _you_ haul this beast back home," he replied. "I already did the heavy liftin'." Catja recoiled so he chuckled and said, "That was a joke, Milady."

"I know," she shot back, though now she couldn't help but smile now too. "Thank you," she told him.

"Now let's get this buzzard back to Tlachtga," he said. "I'm hungry."

XXXXX

"I remember that," Kailyn said, smiling. "You and my father dragged back a rukh. It took both of you, and you looked pretty awful when you returned, but that creature fed us throughout the entire winter. You were heroes." She cocked her head at the Queen. "I never knew that was when you fell in love with him."

Catja shrugged. "As we were dragging the rukh back to the village, it occurred to me that I was afraid of letting him have my heart. As the Tetrach, I was not accustomed to allowing myself to be vulnerable like that. But I also realized how silly I was behaving, acting like a jealous ninny certain he'd rip out my heart and stomp it. I prided myself on my fearlessness, and yet I was afraid of _him_?" She chuckled. "I'd known him my entire life and he was my friend. I'd be a fool not to trust him." She looked at her young protégé pointedly.

Kailyn looked away. "I understand what you are saying, but I have not known Tomas my entire life," she said.

"If you feel as if you can't trust him, then why give him your Kiss?" Catja challenged.

"I feel as if I can trust him as a warrior and as a friend to our people," she hastily explained as if she'd done something wrong and needed to justify her actions. "I am just not certain about my heart."

The Queen sighed and pointed her bloody knife at her. "This is exactly what got you in trouble with Fujin," she admonished. "He was sincere about _his_ feelings, but you refused to believe him, so both of you wound up suffering." She shook her head. "Please don't make the same mistake twice. You're the Tetrach, Kailyn. Show a modicum of courage. _Go_ to Tomas."

"I-"

"I know you're thinking about Rain," she interrupted. "And I can't imagine how hard it must be to trust someone after what the traitor did to you. But if _you_ can't trust Tomas yet, then trust _me_. I've never led you astray, nor will I ever. And I truly believe he's where you're supposed to be. Your mother believed that too. You're _not_ meant to have Anluan's children."

Kailyn simply looked at her with a worried frown and sighed. "But what about my duties as the Tetrach?" she asked. "I cannot simply abandon them."

Catja nodded and smiled in amusement. "I think we can entrust Rhiannon with them for a while. Don't you agree?"

"And what of Lord Fujin?" she asked. "If I move to Earthrealm, he may very well kill Tomas."

The Queen shook her head. "My dear, if he wanted to kill Tomas, I'm fairly certain he would've done it by now." She firmly gazed at her with her good eye. "You're looking for any excuse you can not to go. And you're being ridiculous. Deep down, you know I'm right. You need to go."

"But what if it does not work out between me and Tomas?"

Catja rolled her eyes. "Then you can always come back home," she said. "For Heaven's sake, we haven't gone anywhere in 500 years, and we're not looking to move anytime soon. We'll be here." She sighed loudly and then rested a bloody, scarred hand on her protégé's. "Life seldom gives a person another chance to have happiness, but it has graced you with an opportunity," she began. "Don't squander it." She now met the Tetrach's fearful gaze. "I love you and Morgan dearly, Kailyn, almost as if you are my own daughter and granddaughter," she said. "I've had a hand in raising you both, and when you are gone, I will miss you both terribly. But you deserve to be happy. So I'm telling you this in all sincerity: you need to get the _hell_ out of Tlachtga."

Tears now streamed down Kailyn's face, and she merely squeezed her Queen's hand.

XXXXX

Catja soon stepped over the threshold of a churning, frothy portal and into the Lin Kuei Temple for the first time in her life. As the Ambassador to Earthrealm, she was not surprised she was met in this gate room by the Grandmaster, her son-in-law, Kuai Liang, as well as Anya, Cyrax, and a few other cyber-ninjas. She took a moment to look at everything and everyone, but then she beamed at her daughter as she stepped from the raised platform to meet her. The younger Hydromancer had grown quite the tummy since Catja last saw her, and when she threw her arms around her to hug her, she sensed that she had little more than a month left to go before she delivered her baby. Happy tears sprang to the Queen's eyes, and she kissed her daughter's cheek before pulling away and nodding to Cyrax. Then she clasped forearms with Kuai Liang, and when he was least expecting it, she hugged him tightly as well.

"Your message didn't say much," the Cryomancer began when she pulled away. "Is something wrong?"

"Where's Tomas?" she asked as she lowered her dark hood. "I expected to see him with you."

The Grandmaster immediately nodded his understanding. "He's teaching, right now," he explained. "But his class should be ending any minute now."

Catja grinned. "Will you ask him to join us, please?" Kuai Liang smiled and tapped his wrist-comm while the Queen focused on her daughter. "Look at you," she said as she affectionately finger-combed her long hair. "You're absolutely glowing."

"I think that's what happens when you have to go pee twenty times a day," she drily remarked, making her mother chuckle.

"Oh, yes, I remember those days," she said. "And now _my_ baby is having her own baby."

Suddenly, there was a loud pop and Tomas winked into the gate room, having just teleported from wherever he had been. "All right, I'm here, Grandmaster," he grumbled when he saw Kuai Liang. "What was so important that you wanted me to dismiss my class early today?"

The Cryomancer said nothing, but merely turned his attention towards Catja. The Enenra followed his gaze and saw her as well, and she smiled knowingly at him and then stepped out of the way. Behind her, standing quietly and nervously, looking painfully awkward and unsure, was Kailyn clutching little Morgan's hand. The cyber-ninja's eyes went wide in surprise when he saw them. On the platform, the Tetrach noticeably swallowed hard, let her daughter's hand go, and timidly walked towards him before she finally threw her arms around him.

" _Miláček_ ," he breathed, suddenly smiling. "I'm so glad to see you. What are you doing here?"

"I think…I think I am ready to join you," she softly replied. "If you will still have me, that is."

Catja saw Tomas' eyes begin to sparkle brightly, and an ecstatic grin spread across his face as he hugged Kailyn more tightly. "I was beginning to think you'd never come," he replied as he then buried his face in her hair and kissed her cheek.

"Mumma?" Morgan's small, toddler voice asked.

Kailyn was slow to pull herself from Tomas, but at last she did and both of them looked at her. The girl's eyes were full of uncertainty and confusion – she had _not_ liked the idea of moving away – so the Tetrach picked her up and returned to the Enenra's side. Catja nearly laughed when she saw the child suspiciously study the man before her. It was obvious she didn't trust him, and it was an expression not lost on him.

"Hello, _holčička_ ," he warmly greeted her, slowly gripping her palm with his two human fingers and shaking it. "Do you remember me?"

"Probably not," Kailyn answered for her as she stroked her hair to calm her. "But she will."

Tomas nodded at that, and then looked from her to Morgan and back again. "Would you like to meet Alexander?" he asked them. "I know he'll immediately love you both."

Now the Tetrach's fearful expression fled her, and she smiled warmly, nodding. "Yes," she said. "I would like that."

At last he turned away, but put his hand on Kailyn's back to guide her, and the three walked from the gate room, never looking back. Catja smiled in satisfaction at her handiwork, and then she thought of Halsey, which caused her heart to lurch in pain. But she took comfort in the company of her family as well as the knowledge that she'd helped his daughter embrace her destiny, which is what he would've wanted. Now, perhaps Kailyn could move on and be happy. Catja sighed and then walked arm and arm with Anya after them.


	5. Anya

**Author's Note: I had this chapter finished a while ago, but that damn one with Stryker held me up. Anyway, it's labor day for Anya. I tried to make it as true to life as possible, and I've drawn from my experiences, my mom's experiences, and my grandma's experiences to depict what the whole childbirth thing was like. For example, my dad had to convince my mom she was still pretty when she was pregnant with me even though she was gigantic. None of the things Anya feels and/or does is fake; it all really happened to at least one of the women in my family. I really strove for accuracy in this respect because I get sick of watching or reading stuff that depicts childbirth that is pretty far-removed from reality. I hope you all appreciate it.**

 **Dr. MKDemigodZ-Warrior: Kailyn's chapter will be exactly that: Morgan learning to adjust to Tomas. Of course, it's gonna be challenging when she says things to him like, "My daddy can beat you up!" LOL**

 **en-lumine: Thanks! The Tetrachs were inspired by both the Greek Amazons and the Ancient Celts. The man-hating part comes from the Amazons (the name 'tetrach' means 'chief' and 'falcata' is a Celtic sword), but I wanted to give them a little bit of tolerance towards them once they'd earned their respect. As for Halsey/Hydro, I was just thinking about his interaction with the Lin Kuei kiddies as children, and he struck me as kind of an ornery fellow in his own right. I'm glad he came across how I wanted him to. :D**

 **ROCuevas: Thank you, and thank you for your support as always :)**

 **Obelisk of Light: I'm glad you thought so. And you aren't the only one excited to see what happens to them in Seido. I am curious to see that myself! LOL P.S. I tried to incorporate your Raiden idea into this one, but once I'd finished it, it just didn't look right. So I took it out. I'm sorry, but I'm sure there will be other opportunities for him to interact with Baby Zero later on.**

* * *

Anya stood in her large bathroom – _grateful_ at the moment because it _was_ so huge – and looked at herself in her full-length mirror in loathing. She was precisely one week overdue to give birth, and she looked like a fucking planet. Or so the told herself as she ran her hands over her belly, her striped pajama tank top making the giant ball of baby look even fatter. _Everything_ looked fatter – her belly, her boobs, and God help her, her ass. God, she was so ugly, and at the thought, she burst into tears, which prompted Kuai Liang to come running.

"What's wrong?" he asked her as he squeezed into the bathroom with her. He had already gotten dressed in his solid black training clothes, but even in such a simple outfit, _he_ looked hot. And Anya didn't. And she was absolutely certain he was going to leave her because of it.

"I'm ugly!" she wailed, throwing her hands dramatically to her face, pressing her palms into her eyes as big, watery tears spilled down her cheeks.

"Oh, honey," he sighed, slightly chuckling as he sat down on the toilet. "No, you're not."

"Look at me!" she cried. "I'm huge!"

"So?" he challenged, raising an amused eyebrow. "You're pregnant."

"And I'm going to be for the rest of my life!" she now sobbed.

He exploded into a laugh that he instantly stifled. "Now you're just being silly," he said.

"I am a week overdue, Kuai Liang," she argued, not sure why he thought this situation was so damn funny. He shrugged at her, prompting her to make her point. "I have a week-old child in me! I'm gonna be 80, and I'm gonna have a 53 year old baby in me."

"Anya-"

"Look at this," she interrupted and then lifted up her shirt to expose her bulging belly. Then she drew a circle in the air around it. "How is _this_ supposed to come out of-" and now she drew a circle in the air over her genitals, "- _this_?" The thought terrified her. There was just no way she could pass that huge thing and live. She was a nurse and had _seen_ other women do it, but now that it was her turn, she didn't think she could do it herself.

Kuai Liang looked up at her with a smile. "Ahn, _you're_ the nurse in the family," he reminded her. "I think you're better suited to explain that than I am."

"You're right," she squeaked, her voice creeping up in octaves that only dogs could hear. "I _do_ know how. Muscles rip, bones break…" She started to sob again.

Now her husband sighed and got to his feet, going to her to hug her. "It'll be okay," he assured her as he swayed with her and ran his hands through her hair to comfort her. Ordinarily, that would've worked. But right now it didn't.

"Even if that's true," she began, her voice slightly muffled against his muscular chest, "pregnancy has ruined me. I'm all fat and ugly now and you're going to leave me for some cute chick named Bianca."

This time, Kuai Liang exploded into laughter that he didn't even try to contain. "I love you," he snickered, hugging her tighter. Then he pulled away slightly and curled his finger under her chin to make her look him in the eye. "I don't _ever_ want to hear you say that again, Ahn," he told her. His sapphire blue eyes sparkled in amusement, but his face was completely serious. "I have _never_ seen a fat, ugly person in you, and even if you actually _were_ fat and ugly, I wouldn't know it because to me, you're the most beautiful person in the universe. You're also funny as hell, you're _so_ smart, and you're infinitely kind. _And_ you're the mother of my child." He looked at her with a knowing grin. "So there's no way in hell that I'd leave you for some chick named Bianca, or any other chick for that matter."

Anya sniffed and weakly smiled. "Thank you, Kuai Liang," she said. "That makes me feel a little bit better. You always know what to say to make me feel better."

He lovingly stroked her chin. "Well, you're my girl," he shrugged.

She looked at him for a long moment, and then burst into tears yet again. "I love you so much, Kuai Liang!" she cried, and that squeaky high voice returned.

"Oh, honey, you're a mess," he told her, holding her close and patting her back.

"I know!" she wailed, sobbing onto his chest.

"Anya, how much sleep did you get last night?" he asked as he gently pressed her head against him to comfort her.

She shook her head. "Not much," she whimpered. "I was up and down because my back hurt so damn bad, and I had to pee like eight million times." She wiped her eyes and nose on the front of his t-shirt. "I feel like crap. My back still hurts and now my stomach does too, probably from crying. And I'm achy all over." She looked up at him with red, swollen eyes. "And I haven't seen my feet since July," she said. "Do my socks even match?"

Kuai Liang looked down and then back up. He shook his head. "No," he said, that amusement in his eyes and voice returned.

"Dammit," she squeaked, the tears welling up again. "I'm _sick_ of being pregnant."

"Okay, this is what we're going to do," he said. "I'm going to take the day off, and so are you."

"No," Anya stubbornly replied. She pulled away from him and wiped her eyes, trying hard to regain her composure. "You can't miss work, and neither can I."

Kuai Liang smirked at her as he tapped some buttons on his wrist-comm and hailed Tomas. "Hey," he began. "I need you to cover my classes for me today. And tell Kamala that Anya won't be coming to the infirmary today."

"What's up?" his friend asked.

"Anya's not feeling well, so I'm going to stay with her and take care of her."

"Roger, dodger," the cyber-ninja said before their connection ended.

"Kuai Liang, you didn't have to do that," she told him.

"Maybe not," he agreed. "But I _wanted_ to. I know you're miserable and I want to help."

Anya softly laughed. "Thanks," she said.

"And just remember what Dr. Green told you yesterday," he said. "If the baby hasn't come on her own by Monday, then he's going to induce you into labor. So one way or another, you don't have that much longer to go."

She nodded. "Yeah," she murmured before she walked to the sink to wash her face and comb her hair.

"Come on," he urged as he watched her. "Let's go put you to bed."

"Actually, Kuai Liang," she said, "would you take a walk around the Temple with me? After we eat breakfast that is. I'm starving. And it hurts to lie down. Walking seems to help."

He grinned and joined her side. "Well…" he trailed off. "I _suppose_ I could do that. For a price."

"Oh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. But he said nothing, and instead stole a kiss.

* * *

About an hour later, Anya found herself lazily strolling through the Temple arm-in-arm with Kuai Liang. She'd eaten like a pig at breakfast, having stuffed her face with bacon and sausage links and a pile of pancakes loaded in butter and warm maple syrup. Usually, she was content to eat some brown sugar oatmeal and some fresh fruit, but today, she felt like gorging herself. So now, as she waddled through the halls with her husband, she felt mildly uncomfortable from eating too much.

But it had been a nice stroll, regardless of her persistent backache and overstuffed belly. The children ran past them, hurrying to their various classrooms, shouting their hellos, some stopping long enough to give them both hugs. Anya loved that the kids felt happy enough to be so affectionate, and she knew Kuai Liang felt that way too. It was a far cry from the way _he'd_ grown up.

The Grandmaster and his wife talked about it a little, but when Kuai Liang sighed and grew wistful, his eyes lost in distant memories, Anya changed the subject and they talked about Halloween, which was only about three weeks away, instead. She suggested that they have a party for the children and let them trick-or-treat in costumes by going to each of the adults' rooms for candy.

And then, Anya's water broke. It was a strange feeling, and for a second, she paused in shock, wondering if she'd accidentally peed in her pants. One time, when she was a little kid, she and her friends liked to fill up flimsy plastic sandwich baggies with water until they were swollen and tight, and then use them as water balloons. That didn't work so well, however, because they never broke when they were thrown. So the kids were forced to poke holes in them and throw them that way. Anya remembered that popping sensation in her hand, that sudden jarring explosion of water. And right now, it felt exactly the same, only this time the unexpected pop happened deep inside her. Warm liquid dribbled down her legs, soaking her sweatpants, filling up her shoes, and pooling on the stone tiles.

"Kuai Liang?" she said uncertainly. He stopped and looked at her, noticing immediately her wet pants.

"What happened?" he asked.

"My water just broke," she told him. Her voice was dreamy, full of shock.

Immediately, his face paled. "Okay," he told her, struggling hard to maintain his calm voice, but rapidly failing. "Let's get you to the S.F. hospital right away," he said, his voice breathless. He started pacing around, rubbing his mouth nervously as she still stood there, stunned, with heart racing. Kuai Liang looked at her in disbelief. "Come on, Ahn," he prodded, motioning for her to get moving. "We've got to hurry!"

Finally, Anya snapped out of her stupor and smiled at her husband. "It's not like the movies, Kuai Liang," she told him, chuckling as she started walking again. Her pace was casual and calm. "I'm not going to have the baby right this instant. I've probably got several hours to go yet." And then it hit her. The baby was coming. _Finally_. She looked at the Grandmaster, who was still mildly panicked, she could tell, and grinned. "Hey, she's coming," she said. "By tonight or tomorrow, she'll be here. And we'll be _parents_."

"Can you hurry up?" he impatiently replied, his face strained with worry. "We seriously need to get you to the doctor."

"I have to change my clothes first," she replied. "And I have to get my suitcase." She thought about it. "Oh, and we need to tell Tomas and everyone. Do you want to call your mom, or do you want me to?"

"Anya-"

But she wasn't listening. "You know what, since you've got to tell Tomas, _I'll_ talk to your mom. Oh, and we need to get a message to _my_ mom. And my dad."

"Who are you and what have you done with my wife?" Kuai Liang demanded to know.

"What's the matter?" Anya asked.

"What's the matter?" he yelped. "Only an hour ago, you were a hysterical mess in our bathroom, and now you're like in La-La Land and completely oblivious to the fact that we have to hurry up."

Now it was her turn to laugh. "Babe," she grinned, shaking her head. "I'm not dilly-dallying, if that's what you're saying," she told him.

"Yes, you are," he argued.

"Not really," she said. "I know we have to go. But I'm serious. We don't have to rush around like they do in the movies. I'm not gonna run through the halls, screaming my head off, getting everyone worked up. Right now, I'm not in any real pain. My back hurts a bit, but it's certainly nothing to act like _that_ for." She shook her head again and then held his hand. "You need to calm down, Kuai Liang. This isn't healthy."

He looked at her like he couldn't believe she'd just said that. "Are you kidding me?" he asked her. "You've been a raging nutcase for the last several months, crying over things like broccoli – _broccoli!_ – and you're telling _me_ what is and isn't healthy?"

"Would you just try to focus on the part where in a few hours, we'll get to meet our little girl?" she asked, smiling. That finally got his attention, and he inhaled deeply, centering himself to regain control over his feelings. Calmly, he tapped his wrist-comm again and hailed Tomas.

* * *

Another hour passed, and Anya had just changed into a hospital nightgown and climbed into the delivery bed – which felt decidedly unusual and irregular beneath her body – while Charlene, her nurse, typed on her keyboard. Kuai Liang, meanwhile, sat in a hard, upright chair near the window with his arms crossed, scowling. He wasn't angry, Anya knew. It was merely his usual expression while amongst strangers. When she'd held his hand earlier as they'd traveled through the portal and through the halls to the hospital wing of the base, she sensed nothing but concern and nervousness deep inside of him. So she smiled at him reassuringly while Charlene started an IV in the top of her hand and then fastened a heart monitor to a strap encircling her belly before attaching electrodes to various spots on her body.

By this point, Anya's mild discomfort had grown a little worse. Now, sharp pinching pain clawed at her insides every few minutes. She could immediately tell when the contractions were about to come on. The muscles in her abdomen and back started tensing of their own accord, at first painlessly but rapidly standing on end in a spasm that stripped her breath away. And then the muscles would magically relax, and she'd feel mostly fine for a few more minutes.

But as Charlene typed more stuff into her computer, a particularly strong contraction gripped Anya in its merciless clutches, and this time she involuntarily grunted in pain as she tightly gripped the bed-rails on her bed as if doing so would make it go away. It wouldn't, however, and it seemed to last a particularly long time as she grew dizzy and lightheaded from not breathing. Logically, she knew that breathing would help. But the reality was that her body wouldn't _let_ her suck down air at all.

"Anya, are you okay?" Kuai Liang asked, his voice tinged with worry.

"I'm just peachy," she strained to say. She huffed a few times through her mouth, vaguely noticing that Charlene was now studying the computer monitor attached to the electrodes.

"Ooh, that's a strong one," the nurse commented.

"No…kidding," Anya gasped. At last, though, it finally released its hold on her and she relaxed onto the bed, her back hurting even worse with spasms.

The nurse, who evidently ignored her sarcasm, cheerfully said, "Okay, dear. Now we wait. Here's your call button if you need anything. Before I go, can I get you anything?"

"No," the other nurse told her, panting. "I'm fine."

"Okay," she smiled. "I'll check on you in a little bit."

And just like that, she was gone. Anya felt strangely empty by her absence. The delivery room, which had been designed to resemble a comfortable family bedroom, was oddly quiet save for the low hum of the IV pump and the computer screens behind her head. Some part of her had expected her nurse and her CNA stay with her the whole time, hovering, watching closely. She thought it would be more exciting, that there would be more action. But there was nothing but silence. It felt surreal.

"How are you doing?" Kuai Liang asked her, breaking through the unnerving quiet.

"Embarrassed," she confessed, blushing as she looked at her hands.

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Because you're watching me," she said. "I'm pretty sure if it was _you_ having contractions, you wouldn't even blink. It's…embarrassing." She shyly smiled.

He scoffed and faintly smiled, shaking his head. "You worry about the weirdest things sometimes," he said.

"Well," she proudly began, "I want you to know that's the extent of me showing pain. I'm gonna be just like you. I can do this."

* * *

"I can't do this!" Anya wailed a few hours later, burying half of her face in her pillow as she gripped the edge of the fitted hospital sheet with both hands. Kuai Liang had long since gotten up from his chair and was trying to rub her back, but she couldn't hold still long enough for her to derive any sort of relief from it.

"Babby, you've got to breathe," Maggie told her, stroking her face. Her mother-in-law had arrived an hour ago, and hadn't been able to stop smiling in excitement once since she got there. "It'll help a lot if you do."

"I'm trying," Anya whimpered. And then, another fiery spasm ripped through her body. It felt as if white hot daggers were slowly carving out her insides. She let out a small, involuntary shriek and accidentally ripped the hospital sheet with her bare hands. "When in the _hell_ will they give me my epidural?" she growled a few moments later, glaring daggers at Charlene, who was typing on the computer again. Anya had half a mind to get out of bed and fling that entire portable podium across the room. She hated that computer, and hated Charlene for being so utterly _calm_.

"When you reach five centimeters," the nurse absently told her. "You're only at four now."

"I'll show you four," Anya snarled as she sat up and curled her hand into a fist that Kuai Liang quickly grabbed and pushed down into the blankets. He flashed her a look and shook his head no.

And then a new sound touched her ears. She cocked her head to hear better, and she quickly realized it was _screaming_. Accompanying it were the sounds of men talking, and nurses cooing. It took her a moment to realize what it was, but soon she figured out that in another room close by, a different woman was in the process of delivering a baby. The thought made her burst into tears.

"Anya, what's wrong?" Kuai Liang asked as he stood by her and rubbed her shoulder.

She looked up at him through teary vision. "There's a woman having a baby," she whined.

"Yeah, so?" he prodded. "Isn't that what _you're_ doing?"

"She's at ten, and she's screaming like that," Anya continued. "She must be in agony. I'm only at four, and I feel like I'm dying." Her voice faded to a pathetic, frightened whisper. "If I feel like this right now, what's it going to feel like when _I'm_ at ten?"

* * *

When Anya first returned home to the Temple after her stint in Outworld, and had truly begun to focus on her pregnancy, she had sworn not to be one of those wives who angrily cursed at their husbands in the delivery room because she thought it hurtful and decidedly unfair. And how could she talk to Kuai Liang like that anyway? He was the most wonderful man on the planet and he didn't deserve to be talked to so hatefully.

But in spite of herself and all the plans she made months ago, she started hurling obscenities at him after her epidural didn't take like it was supposed to, and only half of her body went completely numb while the other half still felt everything. She felt like Two-Face from _Batman_ , and somehow, it was all Kuai Liang's fault. As a particularly awful contraction ripped the left half of her body apart from the inside out, she screamed at him that he was _never_ allowed to have sex with her again. Another one soon followed, and when he leaned over to stroke her hair to comfort her, it sent her into a fit of rage. Instantly, she threw her arm around his neck and pulled him into a headlock, screaming, "I am _done_ with this shit! I'm going home! I'll learn to live with all the extra weight!"

This made Maggie laugh, and as Anya angrily muttered insults at her husband, who was looking at his wife in a mix of surprise and anger after he broke free, she patted her son on the shoulder and said, "Don't take it personally, Babby. I would've done the same thing to _your_ father when I had each one of you kids, except he refused to join me in the delivery room. He opted to go get Chinese food down in Chinatown. With _you_ , I wound up slapping my nurse. Every woman curses the father of their child during labor. It's how it goes."

"Well, Anya's been insane these last few months anyway," he calmly told his mom, passive-aggressively making a dig on his wife as he rubbed his slightly red neck. "I take everything she says and does anymore with a grain of salt."

"Why don't you come over here and say that to my face?" the nurse growled at him, hanging onto the bed-rail for dear life as she lay on her side, curled into a ball. She squeezed her eyes shut and moaned while she waited for the pain to pass. "I will pull your scrotum up over your head."

"You're so cute when you threaten me," he shot back, now smiling as he cautiously stroked her hair. She had braided it that morning before coming through the portal to the S.F. base, but her dark hair was tousled and coming loose in places from flopping around in her bed.

"Kuai Liang," she whined, fighting off anguished tears, suddenly scared more than angry. "Please knock me out. Please grab my shoulder and zap me with ice and _knock me out_."

"Um, let me think about that," he sarcastically told her. "Uh, _no_.

"If you love me you will," she sniffed.

He gently laughed, stroked her hair some more, and then leaned over to kiss her temple. "I love you more than anything in this world," he told her. "But I don't know if that'll hurt the baby, or you. And I'm pretty sure you want to be conscious when she's born."

"Consciousness is overrated," she whined. "You can take pictures." The contraction faded for all of two seconds before coming back in full force. She yelped and then let out a long, low howl.

"I know, honey, I know," he said, rubbing her shoulders and her back again. Then his hand drifted to hers on the bed-rail and squeezed it.

"No, you do _not_ know!" she roared. "Why don't you come over here and let me kick you in the nuts, and then you _might_ have an idea how I feel right now."

And then an overwhelming feeling consumed Anya then. She felt this powerful, incredible need to just _push_. It was a feeling that defied logic and elevated instinct to an expression of truth. Whereas the contractions felt like a boa constrictor clamping down around her waist, this felt like the muscles were pulling downward towards her groin, promising sweet relief.

"I have to push," she gasped in surprise. For all of her nursing training, she didn't know the female body did that, signaled the woman that it was time to actually deliver. It was kind of cool, she briefly thought, but she couldn't ponder it for long because another contraction chewed out her insides, prompting her to cry out.

Now Maggie gasped too. "Oh, my God!" she yelped. "Okay, I'm going to get your nurse. But don't you dare actually push, Anya," she said before she disappeared through the door and into the hall.

"But it feels so good," Anya whimpered into her pillow, lying as much on her tummy as she could to mute the pain. She clutched her pillow tightly.

"It's almost over," Kuai Liang told her, the relief in his voice apparent. "Thank God."

"Oh, like you've had it so hard," she snarled. She crossed her legs to try to keep her body from pushing on its own as it was trying to do. For a moment, she gave in and felt a blissful, if brief, respite from the agony.

A minute later, nurses charged into Anya's room, and Maggie followed. What followed was chaos, or so it felt, and the mother-to-be could scarcely catch her breath. Charlene had her in stirrups within seconds, and promptly shoved her fingers up inside her to check her progression. Pleased, she announced that Anya was at nine centimeters, and that someone needed to get Dr. Green in there stat. Charlene's nurse companions sat her bed up and arranged a variety of tools to aid in delivery on a stainless still tray. On the far side of the room, near the door, a team of CNAs set up an area for the baby, when she came. It was equal parts scale and heat lamp, Anya knew, and it was where they would clean her up and measure her APGAR scores.

All the while, Kuai Liang held her hand while watching the scene. His face betrayed virtually no emotion, but Anya sensed through her fingers his curiosity about these happenings, and his excitement even more. There was also the hint of worry for both his wife and his child, but when she looked up at him with exhausted eyes, he merely smiled at her and patted her head.

"Can I have some drugs?" Anya pleaded with Dr. Green when he came in a second later.

"No," he gently told her as a nurse helped him suit up in a surgical gown and gloves. "We don't want to delay your progress any longer. Painkillers may slow labor."

Anya frowned. "Dammit," she cursed. Sudden fear coursed through her. Sure, women for thousands of years before the invention of morphine went through childbirth drug-free. But why do that if you didn't have to? Why endure that kind of pain?

Dr. Green stationed himself on a stool in front of Anya's bed, getting a direct view of her nether-regions. She had long since gotten over being embarrassed by such things, however, having been forced to give the good doctor the full monty numerous times over the course of this pregnancy, and instead she looked at Maggie, who was now leaning in to kiss her goodbye.

"Good luck, Babby," she told her. "I'll be in the waiting room. I can't _wait_ to meet my grandbaby!"

"Thank you, Maggie," she said. "I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart," she said before she looked up at Kuai Liang. "And I love you too, Babby. You come get me the moment that baby is born!"

"Maybe not the _exact_ moment," he said. She smiled and nodded her understanding before she then left the room.

Now, all eyes were on Anya, and as she knew from her rotation in L&D during nursing school, the doctor gently gave her commands to guide her through delivery. When to push and for how long, and how to let the contractions help her. It was a slow, awful process, and she wrenched her face into an ugly mask as she grunted and groaned in pain. Several times, she held her breath as if doing so would give her added power. And she felt like she had the worst constipation in the history of constipation.

One of the nurses, one she hadn't seen before, loudly said, "Push, Annalise! Push harder!"

The middle-aged woman kept repeating that to her to encourage her, but it rapidly got on the mother-to-be's nerves, so she stopped what she was doing and glared at her. "What in the _hell_ do you _think_ I'm doing?" she shouted. "Interpretive dance?"

"Anya," Kuai Liang said, rubbing her shoulder to calm her down.

"Well, it's pissing me off!" she defensively replied. "I'm not an idiot." She glared at the nurse again. "Hey, lady, why don't you let my _doctor_ boss me around."

"Okay, calm down," Dr. Green told her. His voice was slightly muffled by the mask he wore over his face. "It's not good for you or the baby, Anya. I need you to concentrate for me."

So Anya did just that. She felt her innards shifting around, and soon thereafter, she felt the baby pass into the birth canal. Every muscle down there strained and stretched to the point of snapping, and it burned and stung deep inside of her as if someone were dragging hot forks through her genitals. Inwardly, she prayed that this kid didn't get stuck down there. At this point, they would have to cut Anya in _half_ to get her unstuck. Sweat dampened her face and hair, soaking her bangs and the locks near her temples. Anya groaned miserably as she clutched Kuai Liang's hand and squeezed so hard she thought she'd break his fingers. Thank God he was so damn tough.

"I can see the head," Dr. Green announced a minute later, prompting Kuai Liang to leave Anya's side to go look.

She glanced at him, and felt somewhat embarrassed as his face twisted up in disgust. "Anya," he began, his voice full of repulsed awe, "how are you _doing_ this?"

"You're not helping," she struggled to say, her voice threatening to crack.

"Just a little bit more," the doctor coaxed.

Anya was tired of labor, was tired of delivery, and was tired of being pregnant. So she pushed harder than ever and used the bed-rails to help give her strength. Her insides obeyed her mental commands, and the muscles tensed, squeezing her abdomen as hard as she possibly could. A strangled cry left her as the baby slid through her like a shot. In a few moments, Anya sensed the outermost hole stretching as the head passed through her groin, and for a split second it was the worst pain she'd experienced all day, but she was too breathless to shriek like she wanted. There was a warm gush of fluid, and the disgusted expression returned to Kuai Liang's face as he looked over the doctor's shoulder. Anya felt the doctor's hands guide the head out, but she didn't care because she just couldn't stop pushing.

"Just a bit more," he told her. "I've got the head. Push a little harder, Anya."

But she was already ten light-years ahead of him. She raggedly inhaled and started again, now feeling more of the baby leave her body. She cried out when there was another sharp cut of pain followed by the distinct sensation of something ripping and more warm fluid gushing over her genitals and inner thighs. Once that pain mostly passed, though, she didn't need to push any longer. The baby slid easily out from there, and Anya knew that she would never forget that odd feeling of passing knees and toes through her private parts.

"What is it?" she asked tiredly. Part of her thought that Kailyn and all the ultrasounds she'd had during this pregnancy might have been wrong about this baby being a girl.

"It's a girl," Dr. Green told her, and she laughed in relief.

By this point, Kuai Liang was by her side again, kissing her cheeks, her lips, her hands. At the foot of her bed, the baby stared shrieking, prompting her father to laugh. "She's got a good set of lungs," he told Anya with a smile, and she panted as she nodded, exhausted.

Now Dr. Green set the baby girl on top of Anya's chest while he fussed with the umbilical cord. She was much heftier than Anya imagined, having more substance to her than she expected. But then again, Anya wasn't sure why she'd thought the baby would weigh as little as a toy baby doll. As she pondered this, amazed by the weight of her child, her solidness, the nurses covered her with a towel to keep her warm. Then Anya ran her hands all over the little creature crying on her, trying to feel every inch of her newborn daughter. The girl was covered in blood and other bodily fluids, but that didn't matter a bit.

"Look how much hair she has," Kuai Liang remarked, his voice slightly choked up. He was right. Their daughter had a full head of hair, and it was fairly long for a newborn as well.

"No wonder I had so much heartburn," Anya joked as happy tears streamed down her face and he gently patted the baby on her back. It was an old wives' tale. Babies with hair in utero supposedly caused the mother excruciating bouts of heartburn, and this was definitely true for Anya. There were days she guzzled Mylanta like a Slurpee.

"Would you like to cut the umbilical cord?" Dr. Green asked Kuai Liang then, and he silently nodded, joining the doctor's side, nervously taking the scissors from his hand.

Anya scarcely paid attention as the doctor guided her husband through the process of cutting the cord, and instead focused on her beautiful little girl who was now asleep on her breast. She couldn't get over the fact that this little angel was _hers_ , and that she was now a mother. Not just in spirit like she was for the kids in the Lin Kuei Temple, but in reality as well. Tears streamed from her eyes.

"You're so perfect," she muttered over and over again, gently squeezing her baby's tiny hand.

Then the nurses took her away, much to her chagrin, and Kuai Liang followed them closely to watch them clean her up and weigh her while Dr. Green helped Anya deliver the afterbirth. And then the nurses cleaned _her_ up as well, helping her exchange her blood-soaked gown for a fresh one while the CNAs stripped her bed and changed her sheets.

Finally, though, the nurses brought the baby back to her, this time dressed in a onesie and a pink and blue stocking cap, wrapped like a burrito in a baby blanket. Charlene carefully placed her in her mother's arms, and for the first time, Anya really got a good look at her little girl. Her sleeping face was wrinkled up and flushed red, but in her eyes, she was still the most gorgeous baby in the history of babies. And she looked very much like her father.

"She's so tiny," Kuai Liang said, curiously looking over Anya's shoulder at his little daughter. "Were _we_ ever that small?" he wondered.

"I think so," she laughed as she looked up at him. "Do you want to hold her?" she asked.

He nodded, so she carefully passed her to him, reminding him to support her neck and head. He sat down in the chair with her and studied her face, tracing the contours with his finger. "I feel like I'm going to break her," he muttered distractedly. Though he would never admit it for a thousand years, Anya saw tears creep into his blue eyes and threaten to spill over.

"What are you going to name her?" Charlene asked as the other nurses started to leave. "Or do you know yet?"

"No, we know," Anya told her with a smile. She glanced at Kuai Liang and then back to her nurse. "Her name is Olivia."


End file.
